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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.”

Later, in a Fox News interview, Trump threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on Chinese imports if Beijing tries to help the Iranian military and added, “I could take out Iran in one day. I could have their entire energy everything, every one of their plants, their electric generating plants, which is a big deal.”

Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who led his country’s delegation along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, blamed the US for not winning Tehran’s trust despite his team offering “forward-looking initiatives”.

“The U.S. has understood Iran’s logic and principles and it’s time for them to decide whether they can earn our trust or not,” Qalibaf said on X.

Vance said Iran had chosen not to accept American terms, including not to build nuclear weapons.

“I could go into great detail, and talk about much that has been gotten but, there is only one thing that matters — IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!” Trump said later.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said “excessive” US demands had hindered reaching a deal. Other Iranian media said there was agreement on a number of issues, but the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme were the main points of difference.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said it was “imperative” to preserve the ceasefire that was agreed last Tuesday as the sides attempt to wind down a war that began on February 28 with air strikes by the US and Israel on Iran.

Israeli security cabinet minister Zeev Elkin told Army Radio that more talks were still an option but added, “The Iranians are playing with fire.”

Even as the talks took place, US ally Israel continued bombing Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, insisting that that conflict was not part of the Iran-US ceasefire. Iran says the fighting in Lebanon must stop.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah rocket launchers overnight into yesterday, and black smoke could be seen rising in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, yesterday. In Israeli villages near the border, air raid sirens sounded, warning of incoming rocket fire from Lebanon.

Tehran is demanding control of the Strait of Hormuz, payment of war reparations and a ceasefire across the region, including in Lebanon, according to Iranian state TV and officials, as well as the release of its frozen assets abroad.

Tehran also wants to collect transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite the differences in Islamabad, three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, in what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the ceasefire deal.