PM Expresses Disappointment Over Unsuccessful US-Iran Talks; Assures Australia Not Involved in Strait of Hormuz Blockade

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has clarified that Australia has not received any request to assist in blockading the Strait of Hormuz. This statement follows an order from U.S. President Donald Trump, who directed the U.S. Navy to close off this crucial shipping route after unsuccessful peace negotiations with Iran.

President Trump made the blockade decision public on Sunday, following the failure of talks held in Pakistan. The negotiations collapsed after Iran declined to abandon its nuclear aspirations, a key sticking point in the discussions.

On Monday, Albanese expressed his disappointment over the breakdown of talks between the United States and Iran. “We are hopeful for de-escalation and the resumption of negotiations,” he stated.

Albanese’s remarks came during an announcement regarding Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, who has been appointed as the next chief of the Australian Defence Force.

The prime minister made the comments while announcing that the current chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, would be appointed the next chief of the defence force.

Speaking next to Albanese, Hammond said the military was capable of assisting in the Middle East if it were requested.

“The question of contribution is one for consideration by the Australian government should they receive a request and there’s been no such request as yet,” he said.

Albanese said Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, the current chief of joint capabilities, would become the chief of army, making her the first woman to assume the role.

Trump announces blockade on social media

Earlier, in a lengthy declaration on his social media platform, Trump said his eventual goal was to clear the strait of mines and reopen it to all shipping, but that in the meantime, Iran must not be allowed to profit from its control of the waterway.

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

In response to Trump’s announcement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they had traffic in the strategic waterway under their full control and would trap any enemy who tried to challenge it “in a deadly vortex”.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian delegation in Pakistan, said upon arriving back in Tehran that the country would “not bow to any threats” from the US.

Iran has itself been restricting traffic through the strait — a key route for global oil and gas shipments — while allowing vessels deemed to be working for friendly countries, such as China, to pass. There have been unconfirmed reports that Tehran plans to charge tolls.

“THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION,” Trump said. “I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits.”

The US military had said Saturday that two Navy warships transited through the strait to begin clearing it of mines and ensure it was a “safe pathway” for tankers, a claim denied by Iran.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Sunday that two Pakistani-flagged oil tankers heading for the strait had turned around.

Fears of renewed fighting rattled an already tense region after the US-Iran talks collapsed.

“I am worried about the continuation of the situation and the return of attacks again,” said Imam, an Egyptian housewife living in UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

“I was making a great effort not to pass my tension on to the children.”

‘Act of extortion’

Trump later threatened Iran’s energy infrastructure again in an interview with Fox News, before warning he would impose a 50 per cent tariff on Chinese imports if China tried to help the Iranian military.

“I could take out Iran in one day. I could have their entire energy everything, every one of their plants, their electric generating plants,” he said.

The president’s latest ultimatum appeared to have been triggered by the failure of talks to secure a deal to end the six-week-old war.

Iran’s refusal to give up its right to a nuclear program frustrated the US delegation, led by vice president JD Vance, White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” Trump said.

“The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade,” he added, without specifying which ones.

After the talks — the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution — Vance warned that the US had made Iran its “final and best offer” for a deal, adding: “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”

Ghalibaf said he had “put forward constructive initiatives” but the US team did not win Iran’s trust.

Iranian MP Mahmoud Nabavian, also present at the Pakistan talks, posted on X that the excessive US demands included “a joint share with Iran in the benefits of the Strait of Hormuz” alongside removing the country’s 60 per cent enriched uranium.

Expert Nicole Grajewski said a US blockade of the strait was “not a minor coercive signal”, but would rather be considered an effective renewal of the war.

“It suggests Washington is increasingly disillusioned with diplomacy and more willing to rely on direct military means,” said Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po’s Center for International Research.

‘War continues’

The failure of the talks will raise concerns that a return to fighting could drive world energy prices higher and further damage shipping and oil and gas facilities.

Pakistan urged both countries to continue respecting the temporary truce.

But concern has grown that the ceasefire could collapse in part because of continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where Iran has insisted the truce also applies.

Lebanese and Israeli officials are due to hold talks in Washington on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to troops in southern Lebanon, according to a video posted Sunday, saying the threat of a Hezbollah invasion of northern Israel was removed but the “war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon”.

Tamara, an 18-year-old cashier in Beirut, said focus should remain on her country, where Israeli strikes killed more than 350 people on Wednesday.

“We can’t say the war has stopped because there are talks,” she said.

“We mustn’t forget the massacre that happened.”

— With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

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