Middle East crisis live: ships report attacks as Iran closes strait of Hormuz; Trump says deal still possible

Trump: ‘Iran cannot blackmail US with strait of Hormuz’

Donald Trump has warned Iran not to “blackmail” the US with its flip-flopping on the status of the strait of Hormuz, after Tehran reversed its decision to reopen the waterway to shipping.

But the US president again struck a positive tone that a deal with Iran could be possible.

“They [Iran] got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We’re talking to them. They wanted to close up the strait again – you know, as they’ve been doing for years – and they can’t blackmail us.”

He added: “It’s going actually along very well, and we’ll see, but we’ll have some information by the end of the day.”

Donald Trump convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis around the strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran, according to reporting from Axios.

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A senior US official told Axios that unless there is a breakthrough in peace talks, it appears that the war could reopen within days. There is still no firm date for negotiations to resume this weekend, despite Trump’s hopes to end the conflict before the ceasefire expires on Tuesday.

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The official told Axios that JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and Scott Bessent, among other senior government officials, were present at today’s meeting.

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Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that it is “not in my interest at all” to debate Donald Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.

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Leo spoke to reporters aboard the papal plane flying from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day tour of Africa.

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He addressed the spiraling back-and-forth saga of Trump’s critiques of his peace message, which have dominated news headlines this week. But the American pope also sought to set the record straight, insisting that his preaching isn’t directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

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“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” he said. “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”

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The Israeli military killed two Unicef-contracted truck drivers at a water point in the northern Gaza strip, forcing the UN agency to suspend its operations in the area, Unicef said.

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Two other people were also injured in the attack that occurred at the Mansoura water-filling point in Gaza City, Unicef said in a statement.

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Unicef said the point is being used multiple times a day to provide hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza City with clean water from the Mekorot water supply line.

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The agency said it suspended onsite activities until security conditions in the area are restored.

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The US military is preparing in the coming days to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing US officials.

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The Iranian military has continued to tighten its grip on the strait of Hormuz, attacking several commercial vessels on Saturday as it declared the waterway was being “strictly controlled” by Iran. Shipping companies are left scrambling a day after Iran’s foreign minister said the strait was fully open to commercial traffic, an announcement that was welcomed by Trump.

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Two Indian-flagged vessels carrying crude oil were attacked on Saturday while attempting to cross the strait of Hormuz, India’s ministry of external affairs said in a statement.

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Tehran’s ambassador to New Delhi, Mohammad Fathali, was called in for a meeting with India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, during which Misri conveyed India’s deep concern at the shooting incident involving two Indian-flagged ships. Misri urged the ambassador to convey India’s views to the authorities in Iran and resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the strait.

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Hezbollah has denied it was involved in the deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which killed a French soldier.

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A UN peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured after a patrol came under attack from “non-state actors”, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said.

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The French president, Emmanuel Macron, identified the slain peacekeeper as Florian Montorio, a French national, and suggested in a statement that Hezbollah was responsible.

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The Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV reported: “Hezbollah denied any involvement in the incident with Unifil forces in the south and called for caution in assigning blame and judgment.”

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Al-Manar reported a further statement from the Iran-backed group, in which it said it was “surprised by the positions that have been quick to level baseless accusations, while these parties remain silent and make no sound when the Israeli enemy attacks Unifil forces”.

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men in uniform walk through a street. “,”caption”:”A French contingent of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) patrols the Qasmiyeh area in southern Lebanon.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776522793000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”10.33 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776528963000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”12.16 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776523478000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”10.44 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”10.44″,”title”:”Hezbollah denies involvement in deadly attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 18 Apr 2026 15.10 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 18 Apr 2026 02.00 EDT”},{“id”:”69e38ef08f082ddf12731265″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Donald Trump has warned Iran not to “blackmail” the US with its flip-flopping on the status of the strait of Hormuz, after Tehran reversed its decision to reopen the waterway to shipping.

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But the US president again struck a positive tone that a deal with Iran could be possible.

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“They [Iran] got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

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“We’re talking to them. They wanted to close up the strait again – you know, as they’ve been doing for years – and they can’t blackmail us.”

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He added: “It’s going actually along very well, and we’ll see, but we’ll have some information by the end of the day.”

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Trump seated in the Oval Office with five men stood behind him. “,”caption”:”Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Saturday.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:true,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776520944000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”10.02 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776529060000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”12.17 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776521450000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”10.10 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”10.10″,”title”:”Trump: ‘Iran cannot blackmail US with strait of Hormuz'”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 18 Apr 2026 15.10 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 18 Apr 2026 02.00 EDT”},{“id”:”69e38b848f089feed64f530e”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Iran’s supreme national security council, the country’s highest decision-making body under the supreme leader, said it is reviewing “new proposals” put forward by the US, according to Iranian media.

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In a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the Iran security council said the Pakistani army chief, Asim Munir, who has just concluded a three-day trip to Iran, relayed new proposals put forward by the US, which Tehran “is considering and has not yet responded to”.

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It added that it will resume control over the strait of Hormuz “until the end of the war is definitively concluded”, warning that as long as the US naval blockade of Iranian ports continues, Tehran will “regard it as a breach of the ceasefire and will prevent the conditional and limited reopening of the strait of Hormuz”.

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The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has issued two further alerts relating to attacks and suspicious activity near the strait of Hormuz.

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UKMTO said it received a report of a container ship “being hit by an unknown projectile” about 25 nautical miles north-east of Oman. It said some of the containers were damaged but no fire or environmental impact were reported.

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In a separate alert, UKMTO said it received a report of suspicious activity about three nautical miles east of Oman, after a captain of a cruise ship spotted “a splash in close proximity of the vessel”.

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Earlier today, UKMTO said it received a report that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker near the strait. The ship’s captain reported that the crew was safe, UKMTO added.

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boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm island”,”caption”:”A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm island.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Asghar Besharati/AP”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776518486000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”09.21 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776529176000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”12.19 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776519235000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”09.33 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”09.33″,”title”:”UKMTO reports further attack and suspicious activity near strait of Hormuz”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 18 Apr 2026 15.10 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 18 Apr 2026 02.00 EDT”},{“id”:”69e376648f082ddf12731168″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

We now have the full statement from Macron, who has blamed Hezbollah for the death of the French soldier.

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France’s president said:

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n

Sergeant Major Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment in Montauban was killed this morning in southern Lebanon during an attack against Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon).

n

Three of his comrades were wounded and evacuated.

n

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He added:

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n

All indications suggest that Hezbollah is responsible for this attack. France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest those responsible and take responsibility alongside Unifil.

n

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peacekeepers stand guard as displaced people make their way back home in southern Lebanon”,”caption”:”UN peacekeepers stand guard as displaced people make their way back home in southern Lebanon.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776514660000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”08.17 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776519213000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”09.33 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776514817000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”08.20 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”08.20″,”title”:”Macron: French soldier killed in Lebanon, Hezbollah likely responsible”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 18 Apr 2026 15.10 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 18 Apr 2026 02.00 EDT”},{“id”:”69e36c478f089feed64f5208″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, said French UN peacemakers came under attack in Lebanon, as he called for an urgent investigation into the incident.

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He did not say who launched the attack against the French contingent of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), which has been patrolling areas south of the country.

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In a statement on X, Salam said:

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I strongly condemn today’s attack on members of the French battalion serving with Unifil. I have given strict instructions for an immediate investigation to be carried out to establish the circumstances of this attack and to hold the perpetrators to account. It goes without saying that such irresponsible behaviour causes great harm to Lebanon and its relations with friendly nations around the world that support it.

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There has been no immediate comment from Unifil.

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member of the UN peacekeeping force stands by a burned out car in Qasmiyeh”,”caption”:”A member of the UN peacekeeping force stands by a burned out car in Qasmiyeh.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776512071000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”07.34 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776519550000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”09.39 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776512789000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”07.46 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”07.46″,”title”:”UN peacekeepers came under attack in Lebanon, says Lebanese PM”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 18 Apr 2026 15.10 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 18 Apr 2026 02.00 EDT”},{“id”:”69e36c2a8f08d396e256dbde”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Following initial talks between the US and Iran last weekend in Pakistan, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said a second date cannot be set until both sides “have agreed on the framework”.

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Speaking to reporters at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey, he said: “We do not wish to engage in any negotiations or meetings doomed to failure and which could serve as a pretext for further escalation.”

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon yesterday in response to what it said were ceasefire violations by Hezbollah.

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It is the first confirmed Israeli military action since the ceasefire in Lebanon took effect at midnight on Friday.

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The IDF said its troops operating south of the so-called “yellow line” in southern Lebanon, which demarcates an area occupied by the Israeli military, “identified terrorists who violated the ceasefire agreements and approached the forces from north of the yellow line in a manner that posed an immediate threat”.

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The IDF said its air force and ground troops “struck the terrorists in several areas in southern Lebanon” to “remove the threat”.

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The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it has received a report of a tanker coming under fire near the strait of Hormuz by two gun boats linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

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The incident happened 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman, UKMTO said, adding that the captain of the tanker reported the two gunboats opened fire without issuing a radio challenge.

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In a warning issued today, the UKMTO said:

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n

UKMTO has received a report of an incident 20NM northeast of OMAN.

n

The Master of a Tanker reports being approached by 2 IRGC gun boats, no VHF challenge that then fired upon the tanker.

n

Tanker and crew are reported safe.

n

Authorities are investigating.

n

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Iran announced control of the strait of Hormuz has “reverted to its previous state” over the continuing row with the US over its naval blockade of Iranian ports.

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In a statement carried by Iranian media, the Iranian military’s operational command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, described the ongoing US blockade as “piracy”, saying: “For 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.

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“Until 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.”

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This adds to the confusion over the status of the key waterway that carried a fifth of global oil supplies before the war. Yesterday Iran and Donald Trump announced the strait had reopened to shipping, but the US president said the US blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with Washington, including over its nuclear programme.

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Iran reopened its airspace on Saturday to international flights crossing the eastern part of its territory, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said.

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“Air routes in the eastern section of the country’s airspace are open for international flights transiting through Iran,” it said, quoted by Agence France-Presse.

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The aviation authority added that some airports had also reopened at 7am (0330 GMT).

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More than three hours later, however, flight tracker websites still showed no international flights crossing Iran, and several avoiding its airspace by making long detours.

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A convoy of tankers was seen departing the Gulf and transiting the strait of Hormuz on Saturday, vessel-tracking data showed.

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The group comprised four liquefied petroleum gas carriers and several oil product and chemical tankers, with more tankers following from the Gulf, according to MarineTraffic data cited by Reuters.

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Donald Trump said earlier in the day that he might end the ceasefire with Iran if a long-term deal to end the war wasn’t agreed by Wednesday.

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Reuters quoted the US president as telling reporters aboard Air Force One:

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n

Maybe I won’t extend it, but the blockade [on Iranian ports] is going to remain. So you have a blockade, and unfortunately we have to start dropping bombs again.”

n

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The two-week US-Iran ceasefire expires on Wednesday and the two countries have been in indirect talks aimed at extending the truce.

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The White House said midweek that the administration felt “good about the prospects of a deal”, just days after negotiations in Islamabad failed to reach a deal.

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Pakistan’s army chief has concluded a three-day trip to Iran, a Pakistani military statement is being quoted as saying.

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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’s in Islamabad failed to reach a deal.

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Donald Trump’s “favourite field marshal” has been a key figure in mediation efforts and much rides for Munir on the success of talks, Hannah Ellis-Petersen writes here:

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Munir meets Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Thursday”,”caption”:”Field Marshal Asim Munir (left) meets Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Thursday. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776492671000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”02.11 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776493847000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”02.30 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776493020000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”02.17 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”02.17″,”title”:”Pakistan army chief finishes Iranian visit – military”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 18 Apr 2026 15.10 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 18 Apr 2026 02.00 EDT”},{“id”:”69e30be58f082ddf12730f96″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Britain will make “a wide-ranging military contribution” to an international mission to protect shipping in the strait of Hormuz trade waterway, the UK ambassador to the US has said.

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Christian Turner’s commitment comes amid long-running concerns over the state of Britain’s armed forces and warnings of under-funding.

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The multinational mission, led by the UK and France, aimed to provide reassurance to vessels using the critical waterway once the Iran conflict was over, Turner told an event in Washington.

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envoy Christian Turner”,”caption”:”UK envoy Christian Turner has flagged a ‘wide-ranging’ British contribution to protect Hormuz strait shipping. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Remo Casilli/Reuters”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

PA Media also reports that the initiative was announced at talks in Paris involving nearly 50 countries, which Turner said signalled global resolve to prevent tolls or restrictions being imposed on the shipping route, normally used to move one fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.

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So far about 12 nations have committed to take part in the mission.

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The move has been derided by Donald Trump, who used it as a fresh opportunity to criticise Nato as “useless” after it refused to support his offensive against Iran.

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Welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.

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Iran temporarily reopened the strait of Hormuz on Friday after a truce agreement between Israel and Lebanon, raising hopes for a broader peace, but Tehran warned that it would close the waterway again if the US naval blockade of Iranian ports continued.

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Foreign minister Abbas Araqchi announced the global energy chokepoint was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the 10-day, US-brokered truce agreed on Thursday and Donald Trump said Iran’s move marked “a great and brilliant day for the world”.

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But subsequent statements and clarifications from both sides left uncertainty over how quickly shipping might return to normal, and some vessels could be observed making unsuccessful attempts cross the strait on Friday before turning back.

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Trump said a US blockade of ships sailing to Iranian ports would remain until “our transaction with Iran is 100% complete”.

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Iran parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf retorted by saying the Hormuz strait “will not remain open” if the US blockade continued and that Trump had made multiple false claims on Friday.

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Trump later said he might end the ceasefire with Iran and “start dropping bombs again” if a long-term deal to end the war was not agreed by Wednesday, when their truce expires.

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Malta-flagged oil tanker Agios Fanourios I, which sailed through the strait of Hormuz, arrives in Iraq’s territorial waters off Basra on Friday”,”caption”:”The Malta-flagged oil tanker Agios Fanourios I, which sailed through the strait of Hormuz, arrives in Iraq’s territorial waters off Basra on Friday. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Mohammed Aty/Reuters”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

In other developments:

“,”elementId”:”a745775d-34ad-481d-baa0-2efd61b5c8c1″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

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  World leaders welcomed Iran’s announcement on reopening the waterway, with UN chief António Guterres calling the move “a step in the right direction” and urging “the full restoration of international navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz, respected by everyone.” British prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron – who on Friday co-chaired a virtual summit of about 50 countries on the issue – said the reopening must become permanent. Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping was “very happy” the Hormuz strait “is open and/or rapidly opening”.

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  Oil prices tumbled after Iran’s Hormuz announcement amid hopes that energy supplies could resume after nearly two months of disruption. Brent crude – the benchmark for oil traded globally – plunged below $90 a barrel, a 10% fall.

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  Trump said the US “prohibited” Israel from bombing Lebanon and that “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer”. Minutes before Trump’s post on social media, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu uploaded a video address declaring that Israel was not done yet with Hezbollah.

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  The Lebanese army claimed “a number of violations” by Israel of the ceasefire on Friday morning, as thousands of displaced families began making their way home to southern Lebanon. The fighting since 2 March has killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.

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  Trump said Iran’s enriched uranium would be brought to the US, also claiming the US and Tehran would work together to recover the uranium but denying reports that the US was considering a $20bn cash for uranium deal. “No money is changing hands,” he told Reuters.

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  A cruise ship successfully transited the strait of Hormuz on Friday, making it the first passenger vessel to make it through since the war began, according to ship tracking service MarineTraffic.

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  The Trump administration issued a waiver permitting countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products at sea for about a month, seeking to control soaring global energy prices.

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  The UN children’s agency said it was “outraged” after two truck drivers it contracted to deliver clean water to families in Gaza were killed by Israeli fire.

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  The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, has again entered the waters of the Middle East, US defence officials said.

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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will blockade the strait of Hormuz again as of today, the IRGC warned in a statement published by semi-official news agency Tasnim News.

“Approaching the strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and any offending vessel will be targeted,” the IRGC statement read. The statement cited the US blockade as a ceasefire violation.

Trump convenes White House Situation Room meeting

Donald Trump convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis around the strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran, according to reporting from Axios.

A senior US official told Axios that unless there is a breakthrough in peace talks, it appears that the war could reopen within days. There is still no firm date for negotiations to resume this weekend, despite Trump’s hopes to end the conflict before the ceasefire expires on Tuesday.

The official told Axios that JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and Scott Bessent, among other senior government officials, were present at today’s meeting.

Iran is not yet ready to hold a new round of face-to-face talks with US officials, a senior Iranian official said Saturday, citing Washington’s refusal to abandon “maximalist” demands on key issues.

In an interview with the Associated Press on the margins of a diplomacy forum in Turkey, Iranian deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh also said his country will not hand over its enriched uranium to the US, rejecting claims made by Donald Trump.

“I can tell you that no enriched material is going to be shipped to the United States,” Khatibzadeh said. “This is a non-starter and I can assure you that while we are ready to address any concerns that we do have, we’re not going to accept things that are non-starters.”

Khatibzadeh said there have been many exchanges of messages between the sides but accused the US of holding firm on demands Iran deems to be excessive.

“We are still not there yet to move on to an actual meeting because there are issues that the Americans have not yet abandoned, their maximalist position,” Khatibzadeh said. Iran was seeking the finalization of a “framework agreement” before moving to an in-person meeting, he added.

Pope Leo says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump on Iran war

Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that it is “not in my interest at all” to debate Donald Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.

Leo spoke to reporters aboard the papal plane flying from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day tour of Africa.

He addressed the spiraling back-and-forth saga of Trump’s critiques of his peace message, which have dominated news headlines this week. But the American pope also sought to set the record straight, insisting that his preaching isn’t directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” he said. “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”

Unicef pauses operations in north Gaza Strip after contractors killed

The Israeli military killed two Unicef-contracted truck drivers at a water point in the northern Gaza strip, forcing the UN agency to suspend its operations in the area, Unicef said.

Two other people were also injured in the attack that occurred at the Mansoura water-filling point in Gaza City, Unicef said in a statement.

Unicef said the point is being used multiple times a day to provide hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza City with clean water from the Mekorot water supply line.

The agency said it suspended onsite activities until security conditions in the area are restored.

India said it had called in the Iranian envoy to New Delhi and flagged its “deep concern” over the attack on two Indian-flagged ships attempting to cross the strait of Hormuz on Saturday.

One of the vessels attacked was identified as the Sanmar Herald, an Indian government source told Reuters. The crew on board and the vessel were safe, the source said.

India’s top foreign ministry official asked the Iranian ambassador to convey India’s view to Iranian authorities and resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the strait, a statement from the ministry said. The ambassador said he would convey these views to Iranian authorities, the statement said.

The US military is preparing in the coming days to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing US officials.

The Iranian military has continued to tighten its grip on the strait of Hormuz, attacking several commercial vessels on Saturday as it declared the waterway was being “strictly controlled” by Iran. Shipping companies are left scrambling a day after Iran’s foreign minister said the strait was fully open to commercial traffic, an announcement that was welcomed by Trump.

Two Indian-flagged vessels carrying crude oil were attacked on Saturday while attempting to cross the strait of Hormuz, India’s ministry of external affairs said in a statement.

Tehran’s ambassador to New Delhi, Mohammad Fathali, was called in for a meeting with India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, during which Misri conveyed India’s deep concern at the shooting incident involving two Indian-flagged ships. Misri urged the ambassador to convey India’s views to the authorities in Iran and resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the strait.

On the night of 27 February, the day before the US and Israel would carry out strikes on Iran, an unusual influx of about 150 accounts on the online betting market Polymarket placed bets that the US would strike Iran the next day. Analysis found the bets totalled $855,000, with 16 accounts pocketing more than $100,000 each.

Guardian reporter Lauren Aratani looked at the suspiciously well-timed financial bets on the Iran war and the serious ethical and legal concerns they raise.

Aratani explores how prediction markets may be enabling people to profit from inside knowledge of geopolitical events, potentially even before they happen.

You can read the full report here:

Hezbollah denies involvement in deadly attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

Hezbollah has denied it was involved in the deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which killed a French soldier.

A UN peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured after a patrol came under attack from “non-state actors”, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, identified the slain peacekeeper as Florian Montorio, a French national, and suggested in a statement that Hezbollah was responsible.

The Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV reported: “Hezbollah denied any involvement in the incident with Unifil forces in the south and called for caution in assigning blame and judgment.”

Al-Manar reported a further statement from the Iran-backed group, in which it said it was “surprised by the positions that have been quick to level baseless accusations, while these parties remain silent and make no sound when the Israeli enemy attacks Unifil forces”.

Trump: ‘Iran cannot blackmail US with strait of Hormuz’

Donald Trump has warned Iran not to “blackmail” the US with its flip-flopping on the status of the strait of Hormuz, after Tehran reversed its decision to reopen the waterway to shipping.

But the US president again struck a positive tone that a deal with Iran could be possible.

“They [Iran] got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We’re talking to them. They wanted to close up the strait again – you know, as they’ve been doing for years – and they can’t blackmail us.”

He added: “It’s going actually along very well, and we’ll see, but we’ll have some information by the end of the day.”

Iran ‘considering new proposals put forward by US’

Iran’s supreme national security council, the country’s highest decision-making body under the supreme leader, said it is reviewing “new proposals” put forward by the US, according to Iranian media.

In a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the Iran security council said the Pakistani army chief, Asim Munir, who has just concluded a three-day trip to Iran, relayed new proposals put forward by the US, which Tehran “is considering and has not yet responded to”.

It added that it will resume control over the strait of Hormuz “until the end of the war is definitively concluded”, warning that as long as the US naval blockade of Iranian ports continues, Tehran will “regard it as a breach of the ceasefire and will prevent the conditional and limited reopening of the strait of Hormuz”.

UKMTO reports further attack and suspicious activity near strait of Hormuz

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has issued two further alerts relating to attacks and suspicious activity near the strait of Hormuz.

UKMTO said it received a report of a container ship “being hit by an unknown projectile” about 25 nautical miles north-east of Oman. It said some of the containers were damaged but no fire or environmental impact were reported.

In a separate alert, UKMTO said it received a report of suspicious activity about three nautical miles east of Oman, after a captain of a cruise ship spotted “a splash in close proximity of the vessel”.

Earlier today, UKMTO said it received a report that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker near the strait. The ship’s captain reported that the crew was safe, UKMTO added.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is asking if anybody has “looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing”.

While Spain has been especially critical of the US – with Trump responding in kind – over its decision to go to war with Iran, it is not clear what has brought on the US president’s latest verbal attack against the country.

The Spanish government is hosting a “Global Progressive Mobilisation” summit of left-wing leaders from across Europe and Latin America in Barcelona this weekend. While Trump was not specifically mentioned in public remarks, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said: “We all see the attacks against the multilateral system, the repeated attempts to undermine international law and the dangerous normalisation of the use of force.” This is being widely interpreted as a swipe at Trump, particularly when Sánchez has not held back in previous comments about the US president.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump said:

Has anybody looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing. Their financial numbers, despite contributing almost nothing to NATO and their military defense, are absolutely horrendous. Sad to watch!!!”