![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Y6IIBE2CNMTMEQTDTNMVQWBHLA.jpg\")
An Omani navy patrol keeps an eye on oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Alamy\/PA Pakistan envoys continue mediation efforts <\/p>\nMain pointsMacron: French soldier was killed in Lebanon <\/p>\n
A French soldier who \u200cwas part of international Forces stationed \u200bin southern Lebanon was killed, President Emmanuel Macron \u200bsaid on Saturday, adding \u2060that evidence suggests Iran-backed armed \u200cgroup \u200cHezbollah \u200bwas responsible for the attack.<\/p>\n
Three \u2060other \u200bsoldiers were \u200bwounded and have \u200cbeen evacuated, Macron said \u200bin a post on \u2060X, \u2060urging \u200bthe Lebanese government to act against the alleged perpetrators.<\/p>\n
The soldiers were part of \u200cthe UN \u2060Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a peacekeeping \u200cmission in the country\u2019s \u200bsouth. <\/p>\n
Two Iranian gunboats reportedly fired on tanker in Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n
Two Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gunboats have opened fire on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UK\u2019s maritime security monitoring service.<\/p>\n
On Saturday morning, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) said the tanker and crew were reported safe. <\/p>\n
Its map places the attack off the north-west coast of the United Arab Emirates. <\/p>\n
The UKMTO, which provides the primary liaison between military authorities and merchant vessels, said authorities are investigating.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Saturday, Iran announced it had re-imposed restrictions on the vital waterway after the US said reopening the strait would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping. <\/p>\n
The UK warning said: \u201cMaster UKMTO has received a report of an incident 20nm (nautical miles) northeast of Oman. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Master of a tanker reports being approached by two IRGC gun boats, no VHF challenge, that then fired upon the tanker. <\/p>\n
\u201cTanker and crew are reported safe. Authorities are investigating.\u201d – PA<\/p>\n
Iran says no date set for next round of negotiations with US<\/p>\n
No date has been set for \u200cthe next round of negotiations between Iran and the United States, Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister said on \u200cSaturday, adding that a framework of understanding must be agreed first.<\/p>\n
The highest-level US-Iran talks since the 1979 Islamic Revolution \u200bended in Islamabad without agreement last weekend.<\/p>\n
US president Donald Trump has told Reuters there would probably be more direct talks this weekend, though some diplomats said that was unlikely given the logistics of convening in \u200bIslamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now focusing on finalising the framework of understanding between \u2060two sides. We don\u2019t want to enter into any negotiation or meeting which \u200cis \u200cdoomed \u200bto fail and which can be a pretext for another round of escalation,\u201d Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters on the sidelines of a \u2060diplomacy forum in the southern Turkish \u200bprovince of Antalya.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we agree the framework, \u200bwe cannot set the date… There was significant progress made actually. But then the maximalist approach \u200cby the other side, trying to \u200bmake Iran an exception from international law prevented us to reach an agreement,\u201d he said, \u2060referring to US demands over \u2060Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have \u200bto be very crystal clear that Iran would not accept to be an exception from the international law. Anything that we are going to be committed will be within the international regulations and international law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about reports that Iran again closed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday after its temporary reopening following a separate US-brokered 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, Khatibzadeh said Iran \u200chad announced it would \u2060allow the safe passage of commercial vessels in line with the terms of the truce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other side, the American side, tried to sabotage that by \u200csaying that it is open except for Iranians. So that was the reason we said that \u2018if you \u200bare going to violate the ceasefire terms and conditions, if Americans \u200bare not going to honour their words, there will be repercussions for them\u2019,\u201d he said. – Reuters <\/p>\n
Tanker, merchant ships come under fire in Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n
A tanker attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz has come under fire from two gunboats operated by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), has reported.<\/p>\n
The incident took place 20 miles (32km) north-east of Oman. <\/p>\n
No injuries have been reported and the vessels are said to have been unharmed. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, two merchant vessels have said they were hit by gunfire as they attempted to cross the Strait, Reuters is reporting.<\/p>\n
Egypt working on peace plan with Pakistan<\/p>\n
Egypt is working closely with \u200cPakistan on a framework \u200baimed at securing a lasting peace between the \u200bUS and Iran, \u2060foreign minister Badr \u200cAbdelatty \u200csaid today<\/p>\n
He said Egypt, Turkey, \u2060Pakistan \u200band Saudi \u200bArabia were co-ordinating a \u200cbroader regional effort \u200bfocused on preventing renewed \u2060escalation \u2060and \u200blaying the groundwork for a post-war security arrangement.<\/p>\n
He stressed the importance of \u200cprotecting Gulf states \u2060and stabilising energy markets, supply \u200cchains and food security.<\/p>\n
Israel using security pretext in land grab, says Turkish minister<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has told the Antalya Diplomacy Forum that Israel was using security as a pretext to acquire \u201cmore land\u201d. <\/p>\n
He said Israel was \u201cnot after its own security, Israel is after more land\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was speaking at the annual conference on international diplomacy in the Turkish resort city of Antalya, AFP reported. <\/p>\n
\u201cSecurity is being used by the Netanyahu government as an excuse to occupy more land,\u201d he added.. <\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael has to know that the only way to live peacefully in the region … is to let the other countries enjoy their own security, and territorial integrity, and freedom, not to use power on those countries.\u201d <\/p>\n
Turkey, a Nato member bordering Iran, has positioned itself as a potential key mediator in the Middle East conflict, but its sometimes intense rhetoric against Israel has raised questions over its ability to remain neutral.<\/p>\n
Iran closes Straits of Hormuz again, blaming US \u2018piracy\u2019<\/p>\n
Iran has swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway after the US said the reopening would not end its blockade.<\/p>\n
Tehran\u2019s joint military command said this morning that its \u201ccontrol of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces\u201d.<\/p>\n
It warned it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports continued.<\/p>\n
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps statement accuses the US of \u201cpiracy\u201d, saying that its \u201cso-called blockade\u201d amounts to maritime robbery. <\/p>\n
In the statement carried by Iranian media, the Iranian military\u2019s operational command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, described the ongoing US blockade as \u201cpiracy\u201d, saying: \u201cFor this reason, control of the Strait of Hormuz has reverted to its previous state, and this strategic waterway is under the strict management and control of the armed forces. <\/p>\n
\u201cUntil the US restores the complete freedom of navigation for vessels from an Iranian origin to a destination, and from a destination back to Iran, the situation in the strait of Hormuz will remain strictly controlled and in its previous state.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement adds to the confusion over the status of the key waterway that carried a fifth of global oil supplies before the war. <\/p>\n
Yesterday Iran and Donald Trump announced the strait had reopened to shipping, but the US president said the US blockade \u201cwill remain in full force\u201d until Tehran reaches a deal with Washington, including over its nuclear programme. <\/p>\n
An Omani navy patrol keeps an eye on oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Alamy\/PA Pakistan envoys continue mediation efforts <\/p>\n
The head of Pakistan\u2019s army has finished a three-day trip to Iran. <\/p>\n
Asim Munir led a Pakistani delegation to Tehran on Wednesday while working to arrange a second round of US-Iranian ceasefire negotiations after last weekend\u2019s in Islamabad failed to reach a deal. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and foreign minister Ishaq Dar also concluded a trip to the Middle East after visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for talks. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have just concluded the last leg of our engagements following productive and fruitful visits … where we held meaningful bilateral discussions aimed at strengthening co-operation across key areas,\u201d Dar said on X. <\/p>\n
Fresh waiver issued by US for Russian oil<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has issued a waiver permitting countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products. <\/p>\n
The move is an extension of an earlier sanctions waiver that expired on April 11th. <\/p>\n
Following turmoil in energy markets triggered by the Middle East conflict, the Trump administration has attempted to reduce global oil prices by allowing countries to purchase vast quantities of crude oil that had earlier been prohibited under US restrictions. <\/p>\n
In a Telegram post this morning, the Russian presidential special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said the waiver \u201cwill affect over 100m barrels of oil currently in transit\u201d. That brings the total volume affected by both waivers to 200m barrels, Reuters has reported. <\/p>\n
World watches nervously as tankers start crossing key strait<\/p>\n
All eyes will be on the Strait of Hormuz today, and there are conflicting reports as to what has been happening there so far this morning. <\/p>\n
Reuters is reporting that vessel-tracking \u200cdata \u200bshowed a convoy of \u200ctankers has departed \u200bthe Gulf and transiting \u200bthe Strait \u2060of Hormuz. <\/p>\n
The group \u2060comprised \u200bfour liquefied \u200bpetroleum \u200cgas carriers and several \u200boil product \u2060and \u2060chemical \u200btankers, with more tankers following from the \u200cGulf, according \u2060to MarineTraffic data.<\/p>\n
A separate report from Bloomberg, meanwhile, suggests that several oil tankers have U-turned in the Gulf after appearing to try to transit the Strait of Hormuz, as shipowners and oil traders remain in a state of disarray as they try to figure out whether Iran will stick to its promise to keep the strait open for all.<\/p>\n
The halted journeys of five Greek and Indian tankers early Saturday paint the first picture of how traffic is navigating through the energy artery, after Iran\u2019s foreign minister said on Friday that it was completely open. <\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s semi-official Fars news agency reported that the passage will still be closed if a US naval blockade was still in effect.<\/p>\n
The Greek and Indian tankers had all made their journeys northeast toward Hormuz from waters off Dubai, filled with crude, before they began turning around on Saturday morning. <\/p>\n
Some are now idled in locations not far from where they U-turned, next to Iran\u2019s Qeshm island, while a sixth has not sent a geolocation signal for several hours.<\/p>\n
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There is confusion over whether the Strait of Hormuz has reopened or not. Photograph: Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Main pointsMacron: French soldier was killed in Lebanon A French soldier who \u200cwas part of international Forces stationed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[175012,6698,2287,10036,72861,26882,2281,42099,42,173462,65970,43,431,6000,7808,2494,12776,178384,175514,31752,40,38,41,39,178385,2709],"class_list":{"0":"post-405127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-arab","9":"tag-boat","10":"tag-conflict","11":"tag-crisis","12":"tag-danger","13":"tag-dispute","14":"tag-east","15":"tag-gulf","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-hormuz","18":"tag-middle","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-of","21":"tag-oil","22":"tag-oman","23":"tag-price","24":"tag-sea","25":"tag-speedboat","26":"tag-strait","27":"tag-tension","28":"tag-top-news","29":"tag-top-stories","30":"tag-topnews","31":"tag-topstories","32":"tag-vessel","33":"tag-water"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}