President Trump and his team are considering resuming limited military strikes inside Iran to break the deadlock on peace talks, the Washington Post has reported.

Members of the administration are said to be advocating a two-pronged approach of bombing in addition to the upcoming blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington looks to turn the screws on leaders in Tehran.

The option of another full bombing campaign is also thought to be on the table, but analysts have suggested it is unlikely given the backlash among many inside the MAGA camp to the idea of a prolonged military engagement – especially given the US midterms later this year.

Hours after the US-Iran talks in Islamabad failed, President Donald Trump has warned that US forces will immediately ‘begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz’.

The US President also said in his Truth Social post: ‘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.

‘Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL! Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country.’

President Donald Trump said he doesn’t care if Iranian officials return to the negotiating table.

The president was asked Sunday night how long it might be before Iranian officials returned.

‘I don’t care if they come back or not,’ he replied. ‘If they don’t come back, I’m fine.

Trump then said that during the weekend negotiations led by Vice President JD Vance, Iranian officials were pushing for a nuclear weapon.

‘They still want it, and they made that clear the other night. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,’ he said.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence wrote Sunday that ‘all traffic’ through the Strait of Hormuz stopped following Trump’s announcement that the US would blockade the waterway.

It said two vessels that were leaving the strait turned around.

A trickle of traffic had returned to the strait in the days since the US and Iran agreed to pause the conflict.

As he returned to Washington DC on Sunday night, President Donald Trump insisted that the two-week ceasefire is ‘holding well.’

‘I would say it’s holding well,’ he told reporters.

‘Their military is destroyed. Their whole navy is under water.’

He added, though, that starting at 10am on Monday, the US will begin a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

‘I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.’

The President then claimed that Pope Leo ‘criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.’

Israel’s finance ministry said in a preliminary estimate that the war with Iran has so far cost the nation around 35billion shekels (£8.6billion).

The country’s GDP has suffered as a result of the war, while a surge in government spending added to the large bill.

The largest portion came from the IDF, defence ministry, national security minstry and a range of intelligence organisations.

Officials also warned that the full financial impact of the war, which would include long-term reconstruction and economic recover costs, may not be realised for some time.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said this morning Australia had not received any request from the United States to help with its planned blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

‘They have done that in a unilateral way, and we haven’t been asked to participate. We’ve received no requests that we haven’t agreed to,’ Albanese told Channel Nine.

A former EU foreign policy chief has questioned whether anyone should expect a quick resolution to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Federica Mogherini, the bloc’s former top foreign policy official, wrote on X:

Oil prices have pushed up to over $100 per barrel once again after Donald Trump announced his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

In early market trading, the price of Brent crude – the international benchmark – rose 8% to $102.

US crude, meanwhile rose to $104.

Just this morning, Trump told Fox News: ‘We’re not going to let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like and not people that they don’t like, or whatever it is. It’s going to be all or none.’