![\"Trump\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/iran-fully-closes-strait-of-hormuz-and-demands-end-to-us-blockade.jpg\")
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House (Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP)\n<\/p>\nThe standoff over the Strait of Hormuz escalated again on Saturday as Iran reversed its reopening of the crucial waterway and fired on ships attempting to pass, in retaliation after the United States pressed ahead with its blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n
The strait is closed until the US blockade is lifted, Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard navy said on Saturday night, warning that \u201cno vessel should make any movement from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered as co-operation with the enemy\u201d and be targeted.<\/p>\n
New attacks on the strait, through which roughly one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil normally passes, threatened to deepen the global energy crisis and push the countries into renewed conflict as the war entered its eighth week.<\/p>\n
A fragile ceasefire is due to run out by Wednesday. Iran said it had received new proposals from the United States, and Pakistani mediators were working to arrange another round of direct negotiations.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House (Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP)\n<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s joint military command earlier said \u201ccontrol of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state\u2026 under strict management and control of the armed forces\u201d.<\/p>\n
Revolutionary Guard gunboats opened fire on a tanker and an unknown projectile hit a container vessel, damaging some containers, the British military\u2019s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s foreign ministry said it summoned Iran\u2019s ambassador over the \u201cserious incident\u201d of firing on two India-flagged merchant ships, especially after Iran earlier let several India-bound ships through.<\/p>\n
For Iran, the strait\u2019s closure \u2013 imposed after the US and Israel launched the war on February 28 during talks over Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme \u2013 is perhaps its most powerful weapon, threatening the world economy and inflicting political pain on President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
For the United States, the blockade keeps up pressure and could strangle Iran\u2019s already weakened economy.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued defiant remarks on Saturday, saying the navy stands \u201cready to inflict bitter defeats on its enemies\u201d.<\/p>\n
He has not been seen in public since being elevated to the post following his father\u2019s death in Israel\u2019s opening barrage.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Iran announced the strait\u2019s reopening to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. The reopening caused oil prices to fall.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump, however, said the US blockade of Iran\u2019s ports \u201cwill remain in full force\u201d until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States.<\/p>\n
The US president had imposed the blockade after a round of historic face-to-face talks in Pakistan between the countries ended without an agreement.<\/p>\n
US forces have sent 23 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz escalated again on Saturday as Iran reversed its reopening of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-406023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406023","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=406023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}