Daniel Kiss

The U.S. and Iran plan to hold peace talks in Islamabad this week, as the end of a two-week cease-fire looms. President Trump isn’t inclined to extend the deadline past Wednesday evening when it expires, according to a White House official. While Tehran hasn’t publicly confirmed that it would send representatives to the meetings in Pakistan, it has told regional mediators that it would send a team on Tuesday to negotiate, according to people familiar with the matter.

A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports relies on more than 15 warships and thousands of U.S. servicemembers, including Marines and special-operations forces to enforce the operation. Until now, Iran had been freely shipping its own oil and goods while sharply curtailing vessel traffic from other countries, especially those it deems unfriendly. Now, the U.S. military is planning to track down any Iranian ship crossing the strait and physically board it, if necessary.