LIVE | Trump on Iran: 'They'd like to make a deal, very badly'

Thirty-four ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, which is "by far the highest number since this senseless closure" by Iran began, Trump wrote on his Social Truth network.

The US president ordered a blockade of Iranian ports from 14H00 GMT on Monday, following the failure of talks with Tehran in Islamabad.

Maintaining the U.S.-Iran ceasefire is the "top priority" to achieve a solution to the conflict, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, following the failure of the negotiations in Islamabad.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "nothing to apologize for" after criticizing Pope Leo XIV's calls for an end to the conflict in the Middle East.

"Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran," said Trump, adding that the U.S.-born pope was "very weak on crime and other things."

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned Trump's criticism of Leo as "unacceptable."

Trump said Iranian representatives had called to make a peace deal after talks in Pakistan ended over the weekend without agreement.

"I can tell you that we've been called by the other side. They'd like to make a deal. Very badly, very badly," he told reporters outside the Oval Office, without identifying which officials had called.

Israel's military said Monday that it had struck around 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, as the country prepares for peace talks with Lebanese officials in Washington.

"In the past 24 hours, approximately 150 Hezbollah terrorist organization targets were struck in numerous areas across southern Lebanon," the military said, adding that the targets included "military structures, anti-tank missile launch points, and terror command centers."

President Trump warned that U.S. forces will neutralize any Iranian attack ship that approaches the naval blockade of Iranian ports imposed by the United States, which went into effect on Monday.

"Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that the rest of the Iranian Navy had been "completely obliterated."

Trump said the U.S. armed forces will use "the same system of kill" used "against the drug dealers on boats at Sea," referring to airstrikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The New York Stock Exchange opened Monday in the red, affected by the blockade of Iranian ports announced by the United States following the failure of negotiations with Iran in Islamabad.

In early trading, the Dow Jones retreated 0.52%, the Nasdaq index lost 0.52% and the broader S&P 500 index was down 0.23%.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday expressed his support for the blockade of Iranian ports ordered by President Donald Trump.

"Iran has violated the rules [of peace talks in Pakistan]," Netanyahu declared during the Council of Ministers, according to a video released by his office.

"We, of course, support this firm stance, and we are in constant coordination with the U.S.," he said.

France and the United Kingdom will co-chair a summit this week to discuss a "coordinated, independent and multinational plan" aimed at protecting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday.


The U.K. convened "more than 40 nations who share our goal of restoring freedom of navigation," and the summit will address ways to protect shipping "when the conflict is over," Starmer added.

France and the U.K. will work on a "peaceful multinational mission" that would be "separate from the warring parties," French President, Emmanuel Macron said earlier Monday.

Heathrow airport in London announced Monday a 10% increase in transit passengers during March as war in the Middle East forced the Gulf countries to close their airspace.

Total passenger numbers, including those using Europe's busiest airport for stopovers, rose 6.9% to 6.65 million last month compared with a year earlier, Heathrow added in a statement.

"While Heathrow's long-haul network ​absorbed demand in March, the outlook for the next few months remains uncertain" amid the conflict, said the airport's chief executive, Thomas Woldbye.

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're not supporting the blockade," Starmer told BBC radio, adding that the U.K. "is not getting dragged into" war with Iran.

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 News 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."

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.

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.