LIVE | Oil prices soar and stock markets plunge amid escalating tensions after failed Middle East talks
The Iranian Army maintained that the naval blockade announced by the United States, scheduled to begin no later than this Monday, is "illegal" and constitutes an act of "piracy." It further warned that no Gulf port will be safe if Iranian ports are threatened.
A U.S. destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz
Global markets dawned Monday under heavy pressure after the failure of peace negotiations between the United States and Iran and the announcement by President Donald Trump to impose a naval blockade on Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices posted strong gains in early Asian trading. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark, was up about 8% and trading around $104.33. Meanwhile, North Sea Brent was up 6.9 percent to $101.73.
Asian stock markets registered losses on the uncertainty generated by the conflict in the Middle East. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was down about 0.6 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost about 1.2% and Seoul's KOSPI retracted about 0.8%. Also finishing with losses were the Shanghai Composite Index, Sydney's S&P/ASX 200, the STI of Singapore, the Taipei Index and the Jakarta Composite, all in ranges of between 0.1% and 0.5% negative.
Times correspond to Eastern Standard Time.
NATO countries react to US blockade
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that the UK will not join the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz announced by President Trump.
"We are not supporting the blockade," Starmer told BBC radio, adding that the U.K. "is not going to get dragged into" war with Iran.
For her part, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Monday that the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz announced by President Trump "makes no sense."
"I also think it is something that makes no sense... It is one more episode in this downward spiral in which we have been dragged," she said in an interview on Spanish public television.
The strategic Strait of Hormuz trade route should be reopened "as soon as possible," Turkey's foreign minister said Monday.
"Negotiations should be held with Iran, methods of persuasion should be employed and the strait should be opened as soon as possible," Hakan Fidan told the official Anadolu Agency.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared at a news conference Monday, "We will continue to feel the consequences of this war for a long time even after it is over."
Iran called US naval blockade an "illegal" and "piracy" act
The Iranian military maintained that the naval blockade announced by the United States, scheduled to begin no later than this Monday, is "illegal" and constitutes an act of "piracy." He further warned that no Gulf port will be safe if Iranian ports are threatened.
"The restrictions imposed by the criminal United States on maritime navigation and transit in international waters are illegal and constitute an example of piracy," Iranian armed forces commander Jatam al Anbiya said in a statement read on state television.
"If the security of the ports of the Islamic Republic in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Sea will be safe," he added.
US to begin blockade of Iranian ports
The U.S. military announced it will impose a blockade on all Iranian ports starting Monday after talks in Pakistan failed because Iran refused to abandon its nuclear program, President Donald Trump said.
"The United States will impose a blockade on ships entering and leaving Iranian ports on April 13 at 10:00," 14:00 GMT, the president wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Vessels will be allowed to transit as long as they do not depart from or are destined for Iran, the U.S. Central Command for the Middle East specified.
Trump said on Fox News that the United Kingdom "and some other countries" would send minesweepers.
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