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Hours after the United States failed to reach a deal to end the war in Iran, President Donald Trump on Sunday sought to ratchet up pressure on Tehran, vowing to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for Iran and the global economy.

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said on social media Sunday morning.

He added, “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”

U.S. Central Command later clarified details of the blockade in a social media message, saying it would begin at 10 a.m. Eastern time Monday but that it would apply only to “maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.”

The clarification appeared to soften Trump’s earlier vow of a complete blockade of the strait. The U.S. military “will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” Central Command said in the message.

In threatening the blockade, Trump appeared to be trying to strip Iran of the leverage the waterway has provided Tehran since the start of the war six weeks ago. Iran’s selective closure of the strait prompted a surge in gasoline prices and inflation in the United States.

A blockade of the strait would most likely keep gasoline prices high and could be perilous for countries in Asia that rely heavily on Persian Gulf energy supplies.

Two top Iranian officials responded defiantly Sunday to the U.S. announcement. Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander who is now a senior adviser to the supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran had “large, untouched levers” to counter any naval blockade and that the country would not be pressured “with tweets and imaginary plans.”

And Iran’s chief negotiator and the speaker of its parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, separately warned U.S. consumers: “Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4-$5 gas.”

The president’s announcement came hours after Vice President JD Vance left a marathon session of peace talks in Islamabad without a breakthrough.

Iran relies heavily on revenue from oil that it exports through the strait, and more recently it has sought to collect tolls from ships using the waterway.

“We’re not going to let Iran make money by selling oil to people that they like,” Trump said in an interview Sunday with Fox News.

Trump played down the economic effects of the war, which have been a political liability as U.S. midterm elections approach. Asked if oil and gas prices could fall by the time the elections are held in November, he said they “could be the same or maybe a little bit higher” — an indication that the economic turmoil of the war could linger for months, even if a lasting peace is reached.

Data released last week showed inflation spiking in the United States in March because of energy costs. The price of regular gasoline jumped 25% from February to March, the highest monthly percentage increase on record, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

During the course of the war, Trump has put forth numerous goals, including regime change in Iran and the destruction of the Iranian military. But in two lengthy social media messages Sunday, the president described Iran’s nuclear program as “the only point that really mattered” in the weekend negotiations. Iran, he said, was unwilling to give up its nuclear program.

Democrats, who have accused Trump of growing erratic in his decision-making in the war, were critical of the president’s threat to close down the strait.

“I don’t understand how blockading the strait is somehow going to push the Iranians into opening it,” said Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I don’t see the connection there.” He made the comments before U.S. Central Command made clear that the blockade would apply only to Iranian ports.

Using blockades has been a preferred tool for Trump in his second term. He has implemented them in Cuba and Venezuela, frequently citing the latter as a model military intervention.

On Saturday, 12 ships crossed the strait, according to data from Kpler, a global ship-tracking company. It was the highest number of crossings in the strait since the ceasefire was announced, but a fraction of the traffic that used the waterway before the war.

Two U.S. warships entered the strait Saturday and destroyed an Iranian surveillance drone approaching one of the warships, according to multiple U.S. officials.

The negotiations in Pakistan over the weekend were the highest-level face-to-face encounter between U.S. and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Vance told reporters that Iran had “chosen not to accept our terms.” Ghalibaf said on social media that the United States had been “unable to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation” in this round of talks.

As Vance announced in Pakistan that no deal had been reached, Trump was in Miami watching an MMA fight.

The president spent several hours at a UFC event accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of his family. It was unclear whether the president knew that negotiations had failed by the time he entered the arena. For the most part, he sat impassively as blood and saliva sprayed out from the fighters beating each other in front of him.

Analysts said the issues in the peace talks were so complex — and their differences so entrenched — that cinching a deal in a single round of talks had been highly unlikely.

Neither Trump nor Ghalibaf appeared to rule out additional negotiations, although no U.S. negotiators remained in Islamabad after Vance’s departure.

Trump told Fox News on Sunday that his threats had forced Iran “to the bargaining table and they haven’t left,” adding that he believed the United States would eventually get “everything” it wanted from Iran.

This article originally appeared in .

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