{"id":593208,"date":"2026-04-19T07:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T07:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/593208\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T07:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T07:07:08","slug":"standoff-escalates-after-iran-closes-strait-of-hormuz-over-us-blockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/593208\/","title":{"rendered":"Standoff escalates after Iran closes Strait of Hormuz over US blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran reversed its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> and warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports<\/a> remained in effect.<\/p>\n

The escalating standoff over the critical choke point threatened to deepen the energy crisis<\/a> roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence that a new deal was within reach.<\/p>\n

The strait is closed until the U.S. blockade is lifted, Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard navy said Saturday night. Hours earlier, two gunboats from Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the British military\u2019s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It reported that the tanker and crew were safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination.<\/p>\n

Roughly one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil<\/a> passes through the strait and further limits would squeeze the already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again. Meanwhile, a 10-day truce<\/a> between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group<\/a> in Lebanon appeared to be holding. <\/p>\n

The fighting in the Middle East conflict, which is approaching the two-month mark, has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.<\/p>\n

Here is the latest:<\/p>\n

Iran negotiator says strait will remain closed<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as long as the U.S. imposes a naval blockade on Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot,\u201d he said in televised comments aired by Iranian semiofficial media late Saturday.<\/p>\n

Qalibaf, who is Iran\u2019s chief negotiator with the United States, said that the strait is now under Iran\u2019s control, linking the choke point\u2019s reopening to the U.S. lifting of its blockade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the U.S. does not lift the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be restricted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that the ceasefire was on verge of collapse when the U.S. attempted to mine-clear the strait.<\/p>\n

He said Iran viewed the U.S. attempt as a violation of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation escalated to the point of conflict but the enemy retreated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another Israeli soldier dies in combat<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s military says another soldier died in combat in southern Lebanon, the second death announced in under 12 hours. <\/p>\n

It brought the total number of soldiers killed in Lebanon to 15, and was the second soldier killed in combat since the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

The military said that another soldier was badly wounded, along with four moderately wounded and four slightly injured. <\/p>\n

Iran declares Strait of Hormuz fully closed<\/p>\n

The navy of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps said that it extended the closure to the corridor it had earlier designated for the safe passage of vessels through the strategic waterway and declared the strait fully closed until the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and ships is lifted.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Iran said that vessels could move through the strait in coordination with it and against the payment of a toll.<\/p>\n

But in a statement late Saturday carried by Iran\u2019s state media, the navy warned that any violating vessel would be targeted.<\/p>\n

Iran considers the U.S. blockade a violation of the ceasefire between the two countries. Two vessels were attacked earlier on Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz and off Oman\u2019s coast, at least one of them by Iranian gunboats.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran reversed its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and warned that it would continue to block…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,28,3,2229,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,800,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-593208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-religion","12":"tag-u-s-news","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa","19":"tag-washington-news","20":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593208","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=593208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}