Iran war: Trump warns Iran ships to steer clear of blockade

Oil prices are likely to hit their peak "in the next few weeks," US Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Monday.

He said that prices are expected to continue rising until "meaningful" ship traffic resumes through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters news agency reported Wright as saying. 

"We're going to see energy prices high, and maybe even rising, until we get meaningful ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz," Wright said.

"That'll probably hit the peak oil price at that time. That's probably sometime in the next few weeks," he added.

The US military is blocking Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, in an effort to pressure Iran to allow international shipping to freely pass through the narrow waterway.

Before the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, around one fifth of the world's oil and liquified natural gas suppliespassed through the strait. 

Also on Monday, the directors of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency said that the war’s damage to energy facilities could keep fuel and fertilizer prices high for "a prolonged period."

The executive director of the IEA, Fatih Birol, called the disruptions to oil supplies from the Iran war "the greatest energy security challenge in history." 

One-third of the 80 Mideast energy facilities monitored by the IEA have been damaged.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made an urgent plea to the United States and Iran, asking them to resume peace talks and make a genuine effort to achieve a lasting settlement in the Middle East.

"After weeks of destruction and distress, it is clear that there is no military solution to the current conflict in the Middle East," Guterres wrote on X.

"I call for resumption of talks for an agreement to be reached," he added, stressing that the current two-week ceasefire "must absolutely be preserved."

Guterres said that all parties to the conflict must respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere, in accordance with international law.

On Monday, the US began its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to an interview on Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier, US Vice President JD Vance said that Washington made a lot of progress in talks with Iran.

When asked if more talks were coming, he said the ball was in Iran's court.

Vance added that the US expects Iran to make progress on opening the Strait of Hormuz and warned that the negotiations would change if Tehran does not.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Monday, speaking alongside his South African counterpart Ronald Lamola in Berlin, called for the resumption of peace talks between Iran and the US after the first negotiations between the warring parties collapsed on Saturday.

"The ceasefire is holding," said Wadephul. "I can only urge both sides to continue to make use of this time." 

Wadephul renewed support for US insistence that Iran renounce its nuclear ambitions and said the Strait of Hormuz — first closed by Iran and now by the US, too — must remain open to shipping.

"That," said Wadephul, "is required by international maritime law and must be obeyed by all."

Lamola told reporters that South Africa condemns US-Israeli attacks on Iran as a violation of international law, just like Iran's attacks on neighboring nations.

In a Monday call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged an end to hostilities in Lebanon and the start of direct talks between Netanyahu and Lebanese leaders in the pursuit of peace.

Merz reportedly also expressed "grave concern" over the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the call, telling Netanyahu that there "must be no de facto partial annexation of the West Bank." 

Members of Netanyahu's far-right government have openly called for annexation of the Palestinian territory, despite international outcry. 

Recently, Israel's hawkish finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a proponent of the West Bank takeover, also called on Netanyahu to occupy and take control of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River and for its population to "evacuated."

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday, called for Lebanon's ambassador to Washington to cancel planned talks with his Israeli counterpart.

"We reject negotiations with the usurping Israeli entity," Qassem said of the talks planned for Tuesday in the US capital. "We call for a historic and heroic stance by canceling this negotiating meeting."

Lebanon is home to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia and has beentargeted by Israeli airstrikes and invaded by its forces.

Another high-ranking member of Hezbollah's political leadership, Wafiq Safa, condemned the planned negotiations — the first face-to-face meetings between Lebanon and Israel in decades — as well.

"As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all," Safa told the AP news agency, adding, "We are not bound by what they agree to."

Tehran slammed a new US naval blockade on Iran's ports as "an act of piracy," Iranian Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.

"The security of the ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman is either for everyone, or for no one," a spokesman for Iran's military told the outlet.

Iranian forces previously blocked the Strait of Hormuz following the attack from the US and Israel in late February.

On Monday, Iranian officials said that any US vessel approaching the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran currently controls, would be in violation of a ceasefire declared by both Iran and the US last week.

The US blockade was announced after initial negotiations in Islamabad collapsed over the weekend.

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that a "blockade" of ships headed for Iranian ports had begun. 

He said that Iran had "called this morning" and said "they'd like to work a deal. Very badly, very badly." 

He said the weekend talks in Islamabad had hit a roadblock over a disagreement on nuclear issues. 

"Iran will not have a nuclear weapon," he told reporters. "We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world." 

Trump also criticized Pope Leo XIV as "very weak on crime and other things" amid his continuing spat with the US-born pontiff.

Trump also said that US forces may "stop by" Cuba as and when his administration's focus on Iran cools down.

The bells sounded at the close of trade on Monday with relatively contained losses on Europe's biggest stock markets. 

The DAX in Frankfurt was one of the bigger losers, finishing the day down 1.3% at 23,742.44 points. 

France's CAC 40 slipped 0.3% while the FTSE 100 was down just 0.2%; Spain's IBEX 35 dipped by 0.99%. 

As of 1530 GMT/UTC, both the benchmark oil prices were above $100 per barrel. Brent Crude was commanding $101.38 per barrel, an increase of 6.5%; West Texas Intermediate cost $102.58 per barrel, a rise of 6.2%.

Hungary was a notable exception among European markets, making gains of nearly 5%, albeit with traders in Budapest more likely responding to election results closer to home than to happenings in the Middle East.

The joint peace plan announced by China and Pakistan last month "still can serve as a direction for efforts towards a resolution" of the Iran conflict, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told his Pakistani counterpart on Monday.

"The immediate priority is to make every effort toward preventing the resumption of hostilities and to maintain the hard-won ceasefire momentum," Wang told Pakistan's Ishaq Dar, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.

According to the Brussels-based economics think tank Bruegel, by the end of 2025, China was importing around 13% of its crude oil from Iran and was buying between 80% and 90% of all Iran's exports, using small "teapot" refineries and China's cross-border clearing system CIPS to circumvent sanctions.

US President Donald Trump publicly warned Iran that if its ships "come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED," in an online post published soon after the time he had set for the blockade's commencement passed.

Trump repeated his assertion that "Iran's Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated — 158 ships." 

But he admitted Iran still had a small number of "fast attack ships,"  because the US "did not consider them much of a threat."

The US president instructed the ships not to go anywhere near blockading US vessels, because Iranian ships would face elimination "using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea." 

"It is quick and brutal," Trump said, before claiming that 98.2% of drugs coming into the US by "Ocean or Sea" had "STOPPED."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sought to emphasize the positives amid the US and Iran's blockade tensions on Monday, saying that the ceasefire between the two sides was "holding" and that diplomatic efforts continued despite the apparent failure of the Islamabad talks.

"The ceasefire is still holding and, as I speak, full efforts are underway to resolve the outstanding issues," Sharif told a cabinet meeting in brief televised remarks.

Sharif voiced a similar sentiment on a phone call with his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi, saying that Pakistan "remains committed to maintaining this momentum for peace and stability." 

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre based in Dubai has said it's been informed of the US Navy's intention to blockade Iranian military ports.

According to the UKMTO, the US blockade was to start from 1400 GMT/UTC, or just a few minutes ago. The UK officials said restrictions would be enforced affecting Iranian ‌ports and coastal ‌areas, ​including locations along the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of ​Oman, and Strait of ⁠Hormuz. 

"Access ​restrictions apply ​without distinction ​to vessels ‌of any flag engaging with ​Iranian ⁠ports, oil terminals, ⁠or ​coastal facilities," said UKMTO, which serves as a key reference point for commercial maritime activities in the Middle East.

According to the information available to the naval organization, "transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz to or from non-Iranian destinations" would not be affected, "however, vessels may encounter military presence, directed communications, or right-of-visit procedures during passage." 

It advised all ships in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman and adjacent waters to "maintain heightened situational awareness, ensure maximum bridge readiness, and exercise appropriate caution." 

Foreign ministers from the 11 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have issued a joint statement calling for "safe, unimpeded and continuous transit passage of vessels and aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz."

"We urge the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue negotiations that will lead to the permanent end of the conflict and lasting peace and stability in the region," the ministers said after joint talks on Monday, commending Pakistan and all others involved for their efforts mediating. 

The organization also called on both the US and Iran to "maintain conducive conditions for the full and effective implementation of the ceasefire," by adhering to its terms, "exercising utmost restraint, ceasing all hostilities," and "acting responsibly," among other measures. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel agrees with US President Donald Trump's decision to impose a naval blockade on Iran.  

"Iran violated the rules (of the peace talks in Pakistan), President Trump decided to impose a naval blockade," Netanyahu said at a Cabinet meeting, according to a video statement released by his office.

"We, of course, support this firm position, and we are in constant coordination with the United States," he added.

Netanyahu also said US Vice President JD Vance had briefed him by telephone on US-Iran talks in Islamabad this weekend that failed to end theUS-Israel war on Iran.