‘Blown to hell’: Trump announces US blockade of Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping naval operation targeting the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil transit chokepoints, in a move that risks deepening a global crisis.“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said in a social media post on Sunday.He said that “at some point, we will reach an ‘ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT’ basis”, adding that he had instructed the US Navy to “seek and interdict” every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran.“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”The announcement was part of a barrage of statements issued after 21 hours of talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan ended without an agreement.The failure casts doubt over the future of a ceasefire that capped more than a month of intensifying conflict, triggered by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.