TEHRAN - Just hours after the talks between Iran and the U.S. in Islamabad ended on Sunday morning with a breakthrough, President Donald Trump declared a naval blockade of Iran.

Trump did not wait even until the end of the two-week ceasefire mediated by Pakistan. 

The U.S. naval blockade that targets ships to and from Iran’s ports, went into force on Monday.  Simply, it is a violation of Iran’s sovereignty. 

Trump enforced the blockade despite the fact that the world has warned that this will worsen the situation and have more effects on the global economy, especially as Iran has warned that “free navigation for all or for nobody”.

Trump made this decision even though he told reporters late on Sunday (U.S. time) that the ceasefire is “holding well”.

This means the U.S. has somehow resumed the war before the ceasefire expires. 

This also took place while neither Iran’s nor the United States’ chief negotiators have not completely closed the door to diplomacy and there is still room for diplomacy and extending the ceasefire plan.  

Talking to reporters before the war on Iran, Trump dismissed the widely perceived view that he is personally impatient. But he is. He must not be that much naïve not to understand that a finding a durable solution to the nuclear dispute between Tehran and Washington, that was triggered again with his withdrawal from the Obama era nuclear deal in his first administration, can be achieved in a short time or in one session. 

The 2015 nuclear deal was the result of two years of intensive talks and 11 years of intermittent negotiations, starting 2003.

Trump and his close aides must know that the issue has become much more complicated following the U.S.-Israeli aggression against Iran at the end of February that Iran in retaliation closed the Strait of Hormuz in the first days of the war, although it loosened the closure later, and now it is open under the fragile ceasefire agreement. 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had tacitly approved of the war on Iran, is quite right that that he had low expectations for the Islamabad talks. 

“I wasn’t surprised by the decision to break off the talks in Islamabad. From the outset, I didn’t get the impression that (the talks) were particularly well-prepared,” Merz said in remarks in Berlin on Monday morning.  Merz also said that a diplomatic solution will not be a quick process. 

It is quite understandable that in any negotiations Iran will not easily give up its control of the vital Strait of Hormuz without receiving guarantees that it will not be attacked again and a final solution is not found for the decades-long conflict between Tehran and Washington.

Iranians must not live under a constant fear of war by the U.S. and Israel. The June 2025 Israeli-U.S. war on Iran, that lasted 12 days, ended with just a ceasefire and not a deal. Again, they started the current war during the Iran-U.S. talks in Geneva. There must be an end to such a situation. 

Senator Tim Kaine has cited reasons why Iran should not trust the Trump administration and insist on its credible concerns. 

“Vance says Iran won’t agree to what they agreed to 10 years ago,” Kaine said. “I’m sure Iran wonders: if we agree to it, will the United States tear it up again, bomb our civilian infrastructure, kill schoolchildren, and engage in an assassination campaign against our leadership? This is not going to be an easy negotiation, because the last negotiation that led to control of Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. made the decision to tear it up and walk away.” 

He added, “If you make diplomacy impossible, you tend to make war inevitable.”

Also, if Iran agrees to a dilution of its 400 kilograms uranium enriched to 60 percent it must receive guaranteed concessions instead, top among them a non-aggression pact and a total abolition of sanctions.  

The New York Times has said that during the Islamabad talks the U.S. side proposed a suspension of nuclear enrichment by Iran for 20 years but the Iranian side agreed to 5 five years. If this report is true, the 5-year suspension is an important concession because Iran has been subjected to crippling sanctions, or in Trump’s words “maximum pressure” campaigns. It has also lost many of its nuclear experts in covert and open Israeli assassinations before and during the June 2025 war.

Iran has also lost several hundreds of billions of dollars in oil sanctions. Considering the indirect effects of sanctions, the losses, as some economic experts have put it, reach more than 3 trillion dollars.

The Iranian government has announced it has suffered 270 billion dollars in damages directly and indirectly from the current war.

However, if Trump expected Iran’s surrender at the Islamabad talks and agreed to the U.S. terms, it shows that Trump is alien to diplomacy. 

 Trump is erratic in making decisions and reckless in making statements. His naval blockade before the end of truce is a concrete example of erratic behavior. And his pre-ceasefire threat that “a whole civilization will die” if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz is evidence of thoughtlessness.

It is for these reasons that many people find him unfit for the job. Former CIA chief John Brennan, appearing on MS Now on Saturday, said Trump’s recent statements and actions related to the Iran war raise serious questions about his fitness to remain commander in chief, arguing that the Constitution’s 25th Amendment was designed for situations like this.

Trump’s war and rhetoric on Iran have drawn reactions from Washington’s allies. Just on Monday, British Prime Minister Meir Starmer said Trump's threat that Iran’s civilization would die was "wrong". He also reaffirmed his previous position on the war on Iran, saying Britain would "continue to stay out of the war".

Trump told reporters on Monday that if a deal is not reached by the end of the ceasefire, “it won’t be pleasant for them.”  His remarks show as if he has not yet violated the ceasefire. 
While he himself acknowledged that 34 ships transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, what message does the naval blockade send?”

Trump, unsuited for president, is surrounded by sycophants rather competent aides. He uses harsh language against those who oppose his views and uses humiliating and insulting language against his rivals and enemies. 

Trump exemplifies a person who makes erratic and desperate attempts, especially at a time that he should act circumspectly.