Iran was inches away from US deal in Islamabad, says Araghchi as Trump announces Hormuz blockade

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that Tehran was just “inches away” from an agreement with the United States during the weekend talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, when it was faced with maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade.

"Iran engaged with US in good faith to end war," he said in a post on X, hours after the US Central Command announced that the United States forces would begin implementing the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports at 10 am ET (7.30 PM IST) on 13 April.

"But when just inches away from "Islamabad MoU", we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade. Zero lessons earned Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity," Araghchi said in the post.

CENTCOM said in the statement that the blockade 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.”

The CENTCOM announcement comes hours after President Donald Trump announced the blockade and claimed that other countries will also be involved in enforcing it escalating tensions with Iran after US-Iran talks in Islamabad failed to resolve disputes over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

CENTCOM is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defence. Its area of responsibility includes the Middle East (including Egypt in Africa), Central Asia and parts of South Asia.

President Trump claimed that Iran did not agree to the most crucial part of negotiations, which was to give up its nuclear ambitions. He said that Iran has laid out mines in the Strait of Hormuz and is “extorting” countries through it.

"No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas," Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding: "Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!"

The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil transit chokepoints, has been at the centre of rising tensions. Trump accused Iran of failing to uphold assurances to keep the route open, stating: “Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they knowingly failed to do so.”

What does Araghchi’s post suggest? Expert weighs in

Experts said Araghchi’s post suggested that, “inches away” from an agreement, Trump must have changed the US position, and the threat of naval blockade was put on the table.

“It was his intervention that ended the talks,” Vali Nasr, an Iranian-American academic and political scientist, wrote on X.

Before Araghchi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also hinted that a deal can still be reached, but called on the United States to “abandon its totalitarianism” and to “respect” Iran's rights.

“If the American government abandons its totalitarianism and respects the rights of the Iranian nation, ways to reach an agreement will certainly be found. I commend the members of the negotiating team, especially my dear brother Mr. Dr. Qalibaf, and say “God gives you strength,” he wrote on X.

The talks between Iran and the US in Pakistan have ended without a deal due to "excessive demands" made by the American side, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Sunday.

Baqaei, however, emphasised that "diplomacy never ends." Baqaei said the two sides reached a consensus on some issues, but they held different views regarding "2-3 important matters".

US-Iran War

The US and Iran reached a deal on Tuesday evening (US Time), hours after Trump warned that “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” if Iran failed to make a deal that included reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The ceasefire came six weeks after the West Asia war began with joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Tensions escalated following the killing of 86-year-old Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the military strikes on 28 February.

In retaliation, Iran targeted Israeli and US assets across several Gulf countries, causing further disruptions to the waterway and impacting international energy markets as well as global economic stability, disrupting trade routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

The fighting has left thousands dead, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, and brought vessel traffic through Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports normally flow — to a near standstill.

Top representatives from the two nations met in Pakistan over the weekend for over 20 hour-long negotiations but could not reach any breakthrough.

(With agency inputs)