Trump said US negotiators will be in Pakistan on Monday for talks with Iran, resuming talks after Iran reversed its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.

But several hours later, Iran had not confirmed it would attend. While Iran's chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, said in an interview aired on state television late Saturday that “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” he also noted the wide gap between each side's demands. Neither did the host confirm a second round as authorities began tightening security in Islamabad in anticipation of the U.S. delegation's arrival.

The escalating standoff threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence that a new deal is within reach.

The strait is closed until the U.S. blockade is lifted, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy said Saturday night. Hours earlier, two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It reported that the tanker and crew were safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination.

Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait and supply constraints are driving prices higher once again. Meanwhile, a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to be holding.

The fighting in the Middle East conflict, now approaching the two-month mark, has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 civilians and 15 soldiers in Israel, and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Trump said the US forcibly seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship Sunday that tried to get around its naval blockade

Trump, in a post on social media, said the ship was warned by a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman to stop but it did not.

“Our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room,” Trump wrote.

He said U.S. Marines had custody of the cargo ship, named Touska, and were “seeing what’s on board!”

Source: WPLG