Main Points Concerns are growing over the US and Iran ceasefire after a US naval destroyer seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship‘We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what’s on board!’ US president Donald Trump wrote on social media.Iran claimed the seizure has violated the ceasefire and vowed to retaliateIran has also re-imposed its de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, although around 20 vessels passed through on Saturday, the highest since March 1stTrump said his representatives will be in Pakistan this evening for negotiations on a permanent ceasefire, 24 hours before the temporary two-week ceasefire ends Iran’s state media says Tehran has ‘no plans for now’ to join the talks The rising tension saw oil prices jump in early trade on Monday to more than $95 a barrel, still lower than recent weeksBest Reads
Ronan McGreevy – 1 minute ago
European shares slide again
European shares declined on Monday, as hopes for peace in the Middle East ebbed with tensions reigniting after Washington seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate.
Investors have grown increasingly jittery as the US-Iran ceasefire, set to expire Tuesday, appears fragile.
Iran rejected fresh peace talks with the US just hours after US president Donald Trump said he would dispatch envoys to Pakistan while threatening new strikes unless Tehran accepts his terms.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.8 per cent to 621.52 points.
Major regional markets also fell, with France’s Cac and Germany’s Dax down 0.9 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively – Reuters
Message from the Editor
Irish Times Editor Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
Thanks for reading. If you’re interested in world news, The Irish Times has the largest network of foreign correspondents of any Irish news organisation.
Our team provides sharp reporting, in-depth analysis and thought-provoking commentary. Receive our Global Briefing newsletter in your inbox every morning to enjoy Denis Staunton’s guide to understanding world events; what’s happening, why it matters and how it affects you.
At The Irish Times, our journalism is free of any personal, political or commercial control. Unlike most publishers, we have no shareholders to satisfy, no media baron owner in the background telling us what we can and cannot publish.
We are owned by a Trust that mandates us to uphold a set of public-interest values. Those values describe a worldview that is outward-looking, tolerant, curious, interested in divergent views and attentive to the needs of minorities.
Our watchwords are fairness and accuracy. Our goal is to enable you to make informed and independent judgments. And any profit we make goes towards supporting our journalism.
Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
Editor
To join Ireland’s biggest community of news subscribers, sign up here
Ronan McGreevy – 52 minutes ago
Iran seeks cuts from EU in aviation fuel costs
Ireland is set to ask the European Commission to take the unusual step of dropping a tariff on aviation fuel to lower fuel costs for airlines.
It comes amid fears of flight cancellations this summer due to the global fuel crisis.
Aer Lingus announced on Sunday it planned to cancel or reschedule about 2 per cent of its flights, affecting thousands of passengers, as it carries out what it describes as “mandatory maintenance” on aircraft.
Minister for Energy Darragh O’Brien said on Sunday he would write to the EU energy commissioner asking for duties on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) imported from the United States to be removed on an exceptional basis while the conflict in the Middle East continues.
Harry McGee reports
Ronan McGreevy – 56 minutes ago
Unreported US military flights an ‘oversight’ says DFA
Our lead story this morning concerns the 248 US military flights over Ireland than were disclosed by the Government.
The figures show a 56 per cent surge in US military overflights of Ireland last month as the US launched hundreds of strikes on Iran.
Following queries from The Irish Times, the Department of Foreign Affairs attributed the underreporting of overflights to an administrative error.
Conor Gallagher and Rachel Lavin report.
Ronan McGreevy – 1 hour ago
Oil price hikes could last six months, says French supermarket boss
The global energy crisis caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran could last until the winter, the head of French supermarket chain Leclerc said on Monday.
“We have up to six months at the very least, and perhaps going through to the coming winter, of an energy crisis,” Michel-Edouard Leclerc, the company’s executive chairman, told Europe 1 radio and CNews TV.
Oil prices jumped back up on Monday, after the United States said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade, while Iran said it would retaliate.
Ronan McGreevy – 1 hour ago
Strait of Hormuz now effectively shut again
Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is at a virtual standstill this morning.
A brief and confused reopening over the weekend ended with the first US seizure of an Iranian vessel — underscoring just how difficult it will be to restore activity in the vital strait.
Transits through the waterway have reduced to a trickle over seven weeks of war in the Persian Gulf, as Iran tightens control in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes.
On Friday, that paralysis appeared to be at an end as Iran and the US announced a reopening, prompting oil to plunge and vessels to rush for the crossing — only for the situation to rapidly unravel.
Yesterday the US navy seized an Iranian cargo ship in waters off the Iranian port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman as it headed toward Hormuz — the first such move during this US blockade — raising the stakes for shipowners operating across the region and widening the area seen to be risky for transits.
Benchmark oil has jumped in response, as a historic supply crisis begins to look even more prolonged – Bloomberg
Ronan McGreevy – 2 hours ago
Oil jumps again as Strait of Hormuz uncertainty returns
Oil jumped and US equity-index futures retreated as traders turned cautious following a weekend flare-up in US-Iran tensions, curbing optimism that strains in the Middle East were easing.
Brent rose 5.5 per cent to $95.33 a barrel after the US Navy seized an Iranian ship during a chaotic weekend that saw Tehran firing at vessels and reimposing controls in the Strait of Hormuz.
S&P 500 futures fell 0.7 per cent after the underlying index closed at a record high on Friday following Iran’s earlier declaration that the vital waterway was “completely open.”
Contracts indicated European shares will decline 1.4 per cent.
A US Air Force Boeing C-17A McChord aircraft prepares to land at Pakistan’s Nur Khan military airbase in Rawalpindi. Iran is not currently planning to attend talks with the United States, state media said, after President Donald Trump ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on April 20, just days before a ceasefire in the Middle East expires.
Ronan McGreevy – 2 hours ago
Ceasefire under pressure following US seizure of container ship
Iran has launched drone strikes on US military vessels in the Gulf of Oman, the Iranian semi-official news agency Tasnim reports.
It follows the US navy seizure of an Iranian-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Oman.
Earlier, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters – the country’s highest operational command unit coordinating the armed forces – described the US naval operation as a violation of the ceasefire.
It said it would “retaliate for this act of armed piracy by the US Navy.”
Ronan McGreevy – 2 hours ago
Iran to enshrine control of Strait of Hormuz into law, says official
A former senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said Iran will “never” give up the Strait of Hormuz.
“It’s our inalienable right,” Ebrahim Azizi, a former commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), told the BBC. “Iran will decide the right of passage, including permissions for vessels to pass through the Strait.”
Azizi forecast Iran will introduce a bill in parliament enshrining Iran’s control of the strait.
“We are introducing a bill in parliament, based on article 110 of the constitution, which includes the environment, maritime safety and national security – and the armed forces will implement the law,” he said.
Azizi heads up the Iranian parliament’s Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy.
Ronan McGreevy – 3 hours ago
Israel threatens ‘full force’ against Hizbullah
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said his military will use “full force” in Lebanon – even during the ongoing ceasefire – should Israeli troops face any threat from Hizbullah.
The Israeli military has warned residents in southern Lebanon not to move south of a specified line of villages or approach areas near the Litani River, saying its forces remain deployed in the area during a ceasefire due to what it described as continued Hizbullah activity.
In a statement, military spokesperson Avichay Adraee also urged civilians not to return to multiple border villages until further notice, citing security risks.
Lebanon’s military said, meanwhile, it has reopened a road and bridge between the city of Nabatieh and Khardali that was damaged by Israeli strikes in the south.
French president Emmanuel Macron will meet Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam in Paris on Tuesday, his office announced, a day after a French peacekeeper was killed in Lebanon.
Ronan McGreevy – 3 hours ago
Footage of US marines rappelling on to Iranian vessel released
Video posted on social media by the US showed the interception of the M/V Touska by US forces.
The video includes audio of the container ship’s crew being warned that they will be fired on if they refused to stop. “Vacate your engine room,” a US sailor can be heard saying. “We’re prepared to subject you to disabling fire.”
The video then shows the USS Spruance firing on the Touska.
U.S. Marines depart amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7) by helicopter and transit over the Arabian Sea to board and seize M/V Touska. The Marines rappelled onto the Iranian-flagged vessel, April 19, after guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) disabled Touska’s… pic.twitter.com/mFxI5RzYCS
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 20, 2026
In a later post on X, US Central Command said US marines had left the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli by helicopter and rappelled on to the Iranian-flagged vessel.
It said the US had “disabled Touska’s propulsion when the commercial ship failed to comply with repeated warnings” over a six-hour period.
Iran has since vowed to retaliate but has not acted yet.
Ronan McGreevy – 3 hours ago
Oil prices surge amid uncertainty over strait and peace talks
Oil prices surged on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it.
In early trading on Monday, the price of Brent crude climbed 5.8 per cent to $95.64 per barrel. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate increased 6.4 per cent to $87.90 per barrel. S+P 500 futures fell by 0.6 per cent while European futures fell 1.1 per cent.
However, equity benchmarks in Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo shrugged off risks to advance, with Taiwan’s shares touching a record high and the other two not far behind. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei climbed 1 per cent and South Korea’s Kopsi rose 1.4 per cent.
Despite this, one of the strongest notes of caution in markets on Monday came from Australia’s largest business lender, National Australia Bank, which flagged a $500m impairment charge as it expects the war to drive up bad debts.
Ronan McGreevy – 3 hours ago
Mideast ceasefire on edge as US seizes Iranian cargo ship
‘We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what’s on board!’ US president Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Concerns are growing that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran might not hold after the US said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Iran vowed to retaliate.
Efforts to build a more lasting peace in the region likewise appeared to be on shaky ground, as Iran said it would not participate in a second round of negotiations that the US had hoped to kick off before the ceasefire expires on Tuesday.
The US has maintained a blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran has lifted and then reimposed its own blockade on marine traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
The US military said it fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, the M/V Touska, as it sailed toward Iran’s Bandar Abbas port. “We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” US president Donald Trump wrote on social media.
Iran’s military said the ship had been travelling from China.
Iranian state media reported that Tehran had rejected new peace talks, citing the ongoing blockade, threatening rhetoric, and Washington’s shifting positions and “excessive demands.”