{"id":592089,"date":"2026-04-18T16:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/592089\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T16:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:55:07","slug":"iran-revolutionary-guard-closes-strait-of-hormuz-again-and-fires-on-ships-trying-to-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/592089\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Revolutionary Guard closes Strait of Hormuz again and fires on ships trying to pass"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAIRO (AP) \u2014 The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz escalated<\/a> again Saturday as Iran<\/a> 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

New attacks on the strait, through which roughly one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil<\/a> 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<\/a> 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

Iran\u2019s joint military command said \u201ccontrol of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.\u201d It warned it would continue to block transits while the U.S. blockade remained in effect.<\/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 center said. 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<\/a>, the strait\u2019s closure \u2014 imposed after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28 during talks over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a> \u2014 is perhaps its most powerful weapon, threatening the world economy and inflicting political pain on President Donald Trump. 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 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

A turnaround a day after Iran said the strait was open<\/p>\n

On Friday, Iran announced the strait\u2019s reopening to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce<\/a> was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group<\/a> in Lebanon. The reopening caused oil prices to fall.<\/p>\n

Trump, however, said the U.S. blockade<\/a> of Iran\u2019s ports \u201cwill remain in full force\u201d until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States. Trump had imposed the blockade after a round of historic face-to-face talks in Pakistan<\/a> between the countries ended without an agreement.<\/p>\n

U.S. forces have sent 23 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, U.S. Central Command said Saturday. Trump\u2019s comments triggered an outcry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans are risking the international community, risking the global economy through these, I can say, miscalculations,\u201d Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told The Associated Press<\/a>, adding that the U.S. is \u201crisking the whole ceasefire package.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council issued a statement calling the blockade a violation of the ceasefire and said Iran would prevent \u201cany conditional and limited reopening\u201d of the strait. The council has recently acted as Iran\u2019s de facto top decision-making body.<\/p>\n

Since most supplies to U.S. military bases in the Gulf region come through the strait, \u201cIran is determined to maintain oversight and control over traffic through the strait until the war fully ends,\u201d the council said. That means Iran-designated routes, payment of fees and issuance of transit certificates.<\/p>\n

Pakistan pushes for progress toward a new deal<\/p>\n

The renewed standoff over the strait came hours after Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country was working to \u201cbridge\u201d differences between the U.S. and Iran. Pakistan is expected to host a second round of negotiations early next week.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council said \u201cnew proposals\u201d from the U.S. had been put forward during a visit to Iran by Pakistan\u2019s army chief and were being reviewed.<\/p>\n

But Khatibzadeh said the Iranians were not ready for a new round of face-to-face talks because the Americans \u201chave not abandoned their maximalist position.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said Iran will not hand over its stock of 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium to the United States, calling the idea \u201ca nonstarter.\u201d Khatibzadeh did not address other proposals for the enriched uranium, saying only that \u201cwe are ready to address any concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said Saturday that Iran \u201cgot a little cute\u201d but that \u201cvery good\u201d conversations were happening, and more information would come by day\u2019s end. \u201cThey can\u2019t blackmail us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Trump said the U.S. will go into Iran and \u201cget all the nuclear dust,\u201d referring to the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under nuclear sites badly damaged by U.S. military strikes last year.<\/p>\n

French peacekeeper is killed in Lebanon<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed<\/a> and three others were wounded Saturday during an attack on U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. \u201cEverything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah,\u201d Macron wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister said fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been a key sticking point in U.S.-Iran talks, and the declaration of a ceasefire in Lebanon<\/a> was seen as a boost to efforts for an Iran agreement.<\/p>\n

It was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a truce it didn\u2019t play a role in negotiating, especially with Israeli troops still occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon<\/a> and the capital\u2019s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return home until it was clear whether the ceasefire would hold.<\/p>\n

The Iran war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon<\/a>, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed.<\/p>\n

__ Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Suzan Frazer and Andrew Wilks in Antalya, Turkey, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO (AP) \u2014 The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz escalated again Saturday as Iran reversed its reopening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1927,66013,28,1930,12,5607,6659,793,158238,7590,801,1570,228242,1576,229484,3,1577,111,2229,258428,16440,21,792,19,22,20,25,24,964,800,1681,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-592089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-blockades","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-diplomacy","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-emmanuel-macron","15":"tag-fires","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-hezbollah","18":"tag-international-agreements","19":"tag-iran","20":"tag-iran-government","21":"tag-iran-war","22":"tag-military-and-defense","23":"tag-mojtaba-khamenei","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-nuclear-weapons","26":"tag-politics","27":"tag-religion","28":"tag-saeed-khatibzadeh","29":"tag-socialism","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-united-states-government","32":"tag-united-states-of-america","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","35":"tag-us","36":"tag-usa","37":"tag-war-and-unrest","38":"tag-washington-news","39":"tag-waterways","40":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}