Iran says won’t reopen Strait of Hormuz if US upholds naval blockade

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TEHRAN – Iran vowed it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the United States continues to blockade its ports, in a tense standoff on April 23 that has dominated the ceasefire in the Middle East war.

While strikes around the region have mostly ceased since the truce began, there has been no letup in the pressure around the crucial trade route, with the two sides exercising their economic leverage in a bid to force the other to back down.

With the ceasefire due to expire earlier this week, US President Donald Trump announced an indefinite extension at the eleventh hour, to allow more time for peace talks brokered by Pakistan.

Iran said it welcomed the efforts by Pakistan, but made no other comment on Mr Trump’s announcement.

“A complete ceasefire has meaning only if it is not violated through a naval blockade,” said Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran’s delegation in the first round of talks in Islamabad.

“Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire.”

Oil prices jumped 5 per cent before easing on April 23. At around 0025 GMT, the benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate climbed 4.06 per cent to US$96.73 per barrel.

International oil benchmark Brent North Sea crude rose 3.62 per cent to US$105.63. Both eased back in the following minutes.

Mr Trump told the New York Post that talks could resume in Pakistan within two to three days, even though Iran has not confirmed participation and Vice-President J.D. Vance put on hold his travel to Islamabad on April 21.

The US leader also claimed that Iran, at his request, had halted alleged plans to execute eight women arrested over massive anti-government protests in the weeks before the attack.

But Iran’s judiciary described his remarks as “false news”, saying the women had never faced the death penalty.

Ships seized

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they forced two ships to the Iranian shore from the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow gateway for one-fifth of the world’s oil.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval force this morning identified and stopped in the Strait of Hormuz two violating ships,” the guards said in a statement.

They identified the vessels as the Panama-flagged container ship MSC Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas.

Panama’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the seizure of the MSC Francesca, calling it a “serious attack on maritime security” and an “unnecessary escalation”.

The Britain-based maritime security monitors confirmed that three commercial vessels had reported incidents involving gunboats in the strait.

Among them, a container ship reported being fired upon by an IRGC boat 15 nautical miles north-east of Oman, causing damage to the bridge but no casualties, monitor UKMTO said.

CENTCOM hours later announced on X that US forces had since the start of the US blockade of Iran’s ports “directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port”.

Under orders from Mr Trump, the US Navy is attempting to block vessels heading to or from Iranian ports, seeking to ramp up pressure on the Iranian economy even without all-out war.

In the midst of the blockade, the Pentagon announced April 22 that US Navy Secretary John Phelan would leave “immediately”.

It gave no reason for his sudden departure, the latest removal of a senior officer under Mr Trump’s combative Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.

The US Defence Department said on April 21 that US forces had intercepted and boarded a “stateless, sanctioned” vessel. AFP has identified the ship as one linked to Iranian activity. Both sides accuse the other of ceasefire breaches.

Lebanon-Israel talks

After the ceasefire with Iran, the US helped broker a truce between Israel and Lebanon including Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia Muslim movement that had fired rockets into Israel to avenge the attacks on its patron.

Despite the declared truce, Israeli strikes killed five more people on April 22, Lebanese media said.

Ms Amal Khalil, a journalist for the newspaper Al-Akhbar, was killed and fellow reporter Zeinab Faraj was wounded in an Israeli strike near the border, the daily said.

Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, will hold a second round of talks in Washington on April 23.

Lebanon will request a one-month extension of the ceasefire during the meeting, a Lebanese official told AFP.

Lebanon will also seek “an end (to) Israel’s bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present and a commitment to the ceasefire”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the talks.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 2,450 people since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese authorities. AFP