US to block ships entering or leaving Iran ports

The US 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, Reuters writes.

The US Central Command said that the US blockade, starting ​at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf ​and Gulf of Oman.”

Vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports will not be impeded, the US military said.

The talks in Islamabad, which ran from Saturday into early Sunday, were the first direct US-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.