by Sharon Rondeau
(Apr. 12, 2026) — At 10:03 a.m. EDT, U.S. President Donald J. Trump detailed to “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo his announcement made approximately an hour earlier on Truth Social that he is imposing a “naval blockade” on the Strait of Hormuz in response to Iran’s failure to agree not to possess nuclear weapons.
The blockade, he said in response to Bartiromo’s question, will commence “pretty soon.”
Direct talks in Islamabad, Pakistan took place Saturday between Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Special Envoy for Peace Jared Kushner and their Iranian counterparts. According to Trump’s post and comments to Bartiromo, negotiators met for a reported 21 hours but failed to convince Iran that it should “give up their nuclear ambition.”
Iran had “promised to open the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted Sunday, but “knowingly failed to do so. This caused anxiety, dislocation, and pain to many people and Countries throughout the World.”
Iran’s closure of the Strait on March 12 prompted global oil prices to rise significantly, resulting in regular unleaded gasoline at or above $4.00/gallon in many areas of the U.S. According to GasBuddy Sunday, in California, gasoline is closer to $5.00/gallon.
“It was a really good meeting,” Trump told Bartiromo of Saturday’s negotiations, other than Iran’s recalcitrance on abandoning its nuclear capabilities which the United States badly damaged when it struck three enrichment sites last June.
“Had we not done that, within one month from that date, they would have had a nuclear weapon,” Trump told Bartiromo, which he said would have been used against Israel and the Middle East.
The announcement of a blockade has caused cargo freighters to change course and head for the Gulf of America, Trump said, to acquire oil from Louisiana and Texas.
He decried the nations which refused to join the U.S.-Israel endeavor to stop Iran’s nuclear program, specifically the NATO-member countries and Japan.
“They weren’t there for us, and they won’t be there for us,” he said.
Bartiromo asked the president if he believes oil prices will be lower before the midterm elections in November, to which he responded vaguely, including that prices could be “a little higher.”
“The only thing left” in Iran, he said, “is their water, desalinization plants…and the bridges.”
He praised the U.S. military for its work in Operation Epic Fury and remarked that since the military’s incursion into Venezuela to arrest then-dictator Nicolas Maduro for alleged drug trafficking, Venezuela is “doing much better.”
The interview ended at 10:35 a.m. and will be segued Monday on Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria,” Bartiromo announced after the interview.