HIBAPRESS – Follow-up
A senior US official announced on Sunday that Iran had rejected a request to halt uranium enrichment and dismantle the main enrichment facilities.
The official also stated that Iran had rejected a call to stop funding Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and to fully open the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters. Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance, said that the negotiations in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, ended early Sunday between the United States and Iran without reaching a peace agreement, after the Iranians refused to accept the American conditions of not developing a nuclear weapon, stressing that he presented the "best and final offer" to Iran. According to the New York Times and the Axios website, the disagreements included Iran's demand to control the Strait of Hormuz and its refusal to give up its stockpile of enriched uranium. Vance confirmed to reporters in Pakistan that American officials are leaving the negotiations with Iran without reaching an agreement, adding that they intend to return to the United States. He added: "We were very flexible, and Iran chose not to accept the American conditions." For his part, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led his country's delegation in the talks with the United States, considered that Washington did not earn Tehran's trust in the negotiations that did not yield an agreement that would put an end to the war in the Middle East. Ghalibaf said in a statement hours after the end of the talks in Pakistan: "My colleagues in the Iranian delegation… put forward constructive initiatives, but in the end, the other party was not able to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations." In addition, US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the US Navy would begin imposing a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz "with immediate effect," through a process of stopping all ships trying to enter or leave it. Trump wrote in a post on his account on the "Truth Social" website: "As of now, the US Navy will begin the process of stopping all ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz." Trump added: "The closure will begin soon. Other countries will participate in this closure." The US President revealed that he had also ordered US Navy forces to search for every ship in international waters that had paid fees to Iran in exchange for passage through the Strait of Hormuz to detain it. Trump wrote: "I have also ordered our navy to search for every ship in international waters that has paid Iran (in exchange for passage through the Strait of Hormuz) and to intercept it. No ship that has paid these illegal fees will be allowed safe passage on the high seas."
