Brent crude was hovering around $102 a barrel on Monday, up 7%, as a partial US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz took effect at 10 a.m. EDT. Before the war it cost roughly $70.
The blockade followed the collapse of weekend talks in Islamabad. Vice President JD Vance, who headed the US delegation, said the main sticking point was Iran’s refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions. Iran warned it would retaliate, calling the blockade illegal and essentially piracy. Tehran said no Gulf ports would be safe if traffic to and from its own was impeded.
Vance: “the ball is in the Iranian court”
Vance told Fox News the US had made its red lines clear. “I really think the ball is in the Iranian court, because we put a lot on the table,” he said. Iran cannot have the ability to enrich uranium, he said, and the “nuclear dust” has to be removed from the country, preferably by the US. Nuclear weapons are the other red line.
On Hormuz, Vance said traffic had ticked up but the strait was not fully reopened. If Iran fails to make progress there, he said, it will “change the negotiation.” He also accused Iran of trying to “move the goalposts” on the strait during the Pakistan talks.
Asked whether the aim was to push Iran back to the table or to bring energy costs down, Trump told reporters: “Maybe everything.” Pakistan, CBS News learned, is pressing the two sides to resume negotiations in hopes of a peace accord before the ceasefire runs out next week.
Energy and diplomacy
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said gas prices “are not reflecting the severity of the problem” and called the situation “the largest energy security threat in history.” Even if the war ended tomorrow, he said, the energy market could need up to two years to normalize because of badly damaged facilities in the region.
China’s President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China would play a “constructive role” in promoting peace talks. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said blocking the strait is not in the international community’s common interest. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told Netanyahu that Germany is prepared to help ensure freedom of navigation in Hormuz, but only after hostilities cease. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron planned a summit that week; Macron described a “strictly defensive” multinational mission to restore navigation in the strait.
Elsewhere, Israel and Lebanon were set to hold direct talks in Washington, the first of their kind since 1993. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem urged Lebanon to cancel the meeting. The Israeli military reported a soldier killed in southern Lebanon, the first since the US-Iran truce began.
