US to blockade Iran after talks fail to yield a deal

Reuters : The U.S. military said it will begin a blockade of all maritime ​traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas on Monday after weekend talks failed to reach a deal to end the war with Iran, jeopardizing a ‌fragile two-week ceasefire.

The talks in Islamabad, which ran from Saturday into early Sunday, were the first direct U.S.-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The negotiations came days after a ceasefire began on Tuesday, aimed at ending six weeks of fighting that has killed thousands of people across the Gulf, throttled vital supplies of energy and sparked fears of a wider regional conflict.

Vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports will ⁠not be impeded, the U.S. military said. Additional information would be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice prior to the start of the blockade, it said.

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