President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, initial U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan in April failed to reach a peace deal.
Trump later announced the open-ended extension of the ceasefire and the continuation of a U.S. blockade until negotiations are concluded “one way or the other.”
Latest Developments
May 20, 5:07 AM
IRGC says war will ‘extend beyond the region’ if fighting resumes
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement published on Wednesday that the “regional war will this time extend beyond the region” if U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran resume.
“Although they attacked us with the full capabilities of two of the most expensive armies in the world, we did not deploy all the capacities of the Islamic Revolution against them,” the IRGC said in its statement, which was published by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
“We are men of war. You will witness our strength on the battlefield, not in hollow statements or virtual pages,” the IRGC added.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
May 20, 4:39 AM
Iran preparing ‘more surprises’ if war resumes, Araghchi says
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post to social media on Tuesday that Tehran is preparing new military capabilities in the event that war with the U.S. and Israel resumes.
“With lessons learned and knowledge we gained, return to war will feature many more surprises,” Araghchi said, referring to the first round of fighting which began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
May 19, 7:36 PM
Trump says economic concerns are ‘peanuts’ compared to Iran nuclear threat
President Donald Trump once again downplayed the war’s economic impact on Americans, saying that the financial setbacks are “peanuts” compared to the chance of Iran having a nuclear weapon.
“Everything’s going good. I’m sorry, but we have to go down and take a little journey down to –we have to do something with Iran,” Trump said in response to a question about high gas prices during an event showing the construction of the White House ballroom. “We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. You want to see the world exploded? You want to see a problem? And this is peanuts.”
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters – PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks to the press near the construction site of his proposed ballroom at the White House in Washington, May 19, 2026.
The president, who has brushed off concerns about high prices, said “I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while. It won’t be much longer.”
He said that Americans “fully understand” his decision to carry out the war in Iran, adding that an abundance of oil is coming to the U.S. to quell concerns.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray and Michelle Stoddart
May 19, 6:25 PM
Senate narrowly advances Iran war powers resolution
The Senate narrowly advanced an Iran war powers resolution Tuesday by a vote of 50-47 — marking the first time the Senate has approved moving forward with this resolution after seven previously failed votes.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary in Louisiana over the weekend after President Donald Trump endorsed his opponent, voted yes to advance the resolution for the first time. He has not yet issued a statement explaining his change in position on the measure.
His GOP colleagues Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski also voted for the resolution, along with the majority of Democrats. There were multiple GOP absences.
As in past votes, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote against the resolution.
The resolution “directs the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force for such purpose has been enacted.”
The resolution only needed a simple majority in the procedural vote to advance. The Senate would need to vote again to advance the bill. Right now, if no other member changes their votes and there is full GOP attendance, the measure would still ultimately fail. Though it’s a breakthrough moment for Democrats who have for months been bringing war powers resolutions to the floor.
“It sort of feels like the momentum is slowly, not fast enough for me, but moving our way, and that’s really positive,” Sen. Tim Kaine, who has been leading the Democratic effort on war powers, told reporters after the vote.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin and Lalee Ibssa
May 19, 2:54 PM
Vance stops short of confirming there will be a deal with Iran
Asked if he personally believes the U.S. will reach a deal with Iran, Vice President JD Vance stopped short of confirming the two sides will agree.
“What I think is that the Iranians want to make a deal. What I think is that the Iranians recognize that a nuclear weapon is the red line for the United States of America, that they’ve internalized that. But we’re not going to know until we’re actually putting pen to paper on signing a deal,” Vance told reporters during remarks at the White House Tuesday.
“We’ve had a lot of drafts, a lot of, you know, a lot of pieces of paper going back and forth. But I will not say with confidence that we’re going to reach a deal until we’re actually signing a negotiated settlement here,” Vance said.
May 19, 12:47 PM
Trump sets new deadline for Iran, explains why he backed off strikes
President Donald Trump offered an account of the details and timeline related to his decision to call off a planned attack on Iran this week, while setting a new deadline of next week for Iran to strike a deal or face strikes.
During an event showing the construction of the White House ballroom project on Tuesday, the president appeared to suggest that he had been “one hour away” from definitively ordering strikes Iran on Monday before he made the decision to delay the attacks at the request of allies in the region who said there has been progress with Iran peace talks.
“I was an hour away,” Trump said on Tuesday. “You’re talking about yesterday? We were going to be striking very … it would have been happening right now. Yeah, it was all done. The boats, the ships are all loaded. They’re loaded to the brim, and we’re all set to start,” Trump said.
But, the president said just moments later that he was “one hour away” from “making the decision” to carry out those strikes.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Isabella Murray
May 19, 11:05 AM
Trump says he was ‘an hour away’ from striking Iran
President Donald Trump said he was “an hour away” from striking Iran, saying the U.S. would have been striking “right now.”
The ships are all “loaded” and ready to attack, Trump said during an event the White House Tuesday.
May 19, 8:23 AM
UK warns of looming food security crisis if Strait of Hormuz doesn’t reopen soonUK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned Tuesday that “the world is sleepwalking into a global food crisis,” saying that if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened “tens of millions of people” could go hungry.
The closure of that critical waterway to almost all ships has disrupted exports of large quantities of fertilizer products.
Earlier this month the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the war had created a global “scarcity” of fertilizer which would “lead to lower [crop] yields and tightening food supplies in the latter half of 2026 and into 2027.”
AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman’s northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026.
The UK Foreign Office warned that “if global partners don’t get fertiliser moving” then vulnerable regions of the world will need “shipments of critical emergency aid…not just external investment and technology,” it said in a press release.
Cooper said Iran had “hijacked” the critical international shipping lane.
“Iran’s continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz while the agriculture clock is ticking shows why we need urgent global pressure to get the Strait reopened, fertiliser and fuel moving and ease the costs of living pressures”, Cooper said.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
May 19, 3:56 AM
CENTCOM says 85 vessels redirected as blockade continues
U.S. Central Command said in a post to X on Monday that the number of commercial vessels redirected amid the ongoing American blockade of Iranian ports had reached 85.
“CENTCOM continues to strictly enforce the U.S. blockade against Iranian ports,” the command said in its post.
May 18, 7:58 PM
Iran and armed forces ‘more prepared and stronger than ever before,’ state media says
“Iran and its armed forces are more prepared and stronger than ever before,” according to a statement Monday from Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
The statement, published on Iran’s semi-official state media outlet Fars, comes on the same day that President Donald Trump said on social media that the U.S. will hold off on attacks on Iran, planned for Tuesday, at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“We will cut off the hand of any aggressor,” the Iranian statement continued. “We urge the United States and its allies not to make strategic mistakes and miscalculations again.”
“They should know that Islamic Iran and its armed forces are more prepared and stronger than ever before, they are on the trigger, and they will respond quickly, decisively, powerfully, and extensively to any renewed aggression or aggression by the enemies of the proud land and nation,” the statement further said.
President Donald Trump said on social media Monday that “serious negotiations are now taking place” to end the war in Iran and that a deal acceptable to the U.S. “will be made,” but that he had asked the Pentagon to prepare for “a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky