washington, April 24 -- The US and Iran are locked in a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz after failing to meet for a fresh round of peace talks, with both sides blocking the waterway to gain leverage during an extended ceasefire. President Donald Trump said the truce agreed April 7 would stay in place indefinitely while Washington waits for Iran to submit a new peace proposal, though Tehran says it has no plans to take part in negotiations imminently. Vice President JD Vance had been prepared to fly to Islamabad on Tuesday to resume discussions, before it became clear Iran would not send its own delegation. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the president "has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal". The US maintained a naval blockade on ships going to and from Iran's ports to pile pressure on the Islamic Republic, in a move Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called a violation of the ceasefire. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post that while Iran welcomes talks, the "blockade and threats are main obstacles" to diplomacy. At the same time, Iran is maintaining a blockage of its own, keeping Hormuz closed to almost all other international traffic. The country's gunboats fired on commercial ships in the strait on Wednesday. Trump's ceasefire extension represented a climb down from threats to resume the bombing of Iran in the event a deal couldn't be reached by a Wednesday deadline, a move that would have revived a war that's killed thousands of people and sent energy prices soaring. In Washington, the Republican-controlled US Senate for a fifth time rejected a Democratic effort to curb Trump's military actions in Iran. Oil prices rose for a third straight session with Brent crude climbing above $101 a barrel. The physical markets continue to signal a shortage of near-term supplies with Dated Brent, the world's most important real-world crude price, rising above $107 a barrel....