Iran has suspended all negotiations and back-channel communications with the United States in protest of Israel’s continuing military operations in Lebanon and Gaza, and announced plans to fully close the Strait of Hormuz and open a new front at the Bab el-Mandeb, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported.

“As long as Israeli strikes continue, there will be no negotiations,” Tasnim quoted Iranian officials as saying.

The agency reported that Tehran has resolved “to pursue the complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and to activate other fronts, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,” describing the moves as measures “to punish the Zionists and their supporters.”

The announcement effectively halts the indirect U.S.-Iran channel that has operated since early April, when President Donald Trump and Iranian negotiators agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. That pause ended Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israeli air campaign launched on February 28 that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in its opening hours and triggered Iran’s largest missile retaliation in the region’s history.

The talks, held in Islamabad and led on the American side by Vice President JD Vance, were intended to produce a permanent settlement covering Iran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missile arsenal, and freedom of navigation through the Persian Gulf. They have repeatedly stalled over Israel’s parallel war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Israel and the United States have said is not covered by the U.S.-Iran ceasefire. Iran’s lead negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, has called that position a violation of the truce.

Israeli strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon have continued in recent weeks, with Lebanon’s Health Ministry reporting more than 1,600 dead since Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah. Israeli officials say the operations are aimed at disarming the Iran-backed group and preventing it from rearming. Gaza has also remained under sustained Israeli fire, despite the October 2025 ceasefire with Hamas that nominally remains in place.

The threat to fully close the Strait of Hormuz marks a sharp escalation of an existing crisis. Iranian forces declared the strait closed on March 4, days after Operation Epic Fury began, using a combination of naval mining, vessel seizures, and IRGC swarm-boat operations to deter commercial transits. Analysts estimate roughly 6.7 million barrels of oil per day have been removed from global supply since the closure began. Brent crude has traded above $100 per barrel for much of the spring, with refined fuel prices spiking further in Asian markets. Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd have all suspended transits through the strait, and QatarEnergy declared force majeure on liquefied natural gas shipments in early March after Iranian strikes on its Ras Laffan facilities.

Roughly 20 percent of the world’s traded oil and a comparable share of global LNG normally pass through Hormuz. Iran’s announcement suggests it intends to move from the current contested closure to a hardened blockade.

The Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow waterway between Yemen and Djibouti at the southern end of the Red Sea, has so far been the principal alternative route for Gulf-bound cargo diverted from Hormuz. Houthi forces in Yemen, who entered the war in early April with missile and drone strikes on Israel, have repeatedly warned that they could resume attacks on commercial shipping in the strait. Iranian official Aliakbar Velayati wrote in April that “the unified command of the Resistance front views Bab el-Mandeb as it does Hormuz.”

A senior Iranian military source quoted by Tasnim last month said Tehran would open a Bab el-Mandeb front if attacks were carried out on Iranian territory or its islands. Monday’s announcement suggests that threshold has now been met in Iran’s view.

There was no immediate comment from the White House, the State Department, or the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)