Iran confirmed the impossibility of reopening the Strait of Hormuz while the US naval blockade remains, and accused Washington of violating the ceasefire, while the Revolutionary Guard seized two container ships and maritime incidents escalated, at a time when Pakistani mediation and expected negotiations in Pakistan are faltering and human losses continue in Lebanon despite the truce.

Published on: 04/23/2026 - 04:29 Last updated: 04/23/2026 - 04:42

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Iran stressed on Wednesday that it is not possible to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the American blockade imposed on its ports continues, and considered that Washington is violating the ceasefire agreement despite President Donald Trump’s announcement of its unilateral extension to pave the way for negotiation.

The Revolutionary Guard reported that its naval forces detained two container ships that attempted to cross the strait, while the vital waterway for oil and gas continued to register high tension.

On the “X” platform, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf criticized the ceasefire as “meaningless” in light of the naval blockade and taking the global economy “hostage,” and linked the reopening of the strait to the “Zionists” stopping the war on all fronts, stressing that the ongoing violation of the ceasefire prevents any reopening.

On the other hand, White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt explained that Trump did not set a deadline for receiving an Iranian proposal to end the war, noting that the commander-in-chief of the armed forces is the one who sets the timetable. This came after Trump told the New York Post that the possibility of holding negotiations within “36 to 72 hours” remains “possible.”

Detention of ships and marine incidents

Two British maritime navigation bodies recorded that three commercial ships reported incidents linked to gunboats in the strait.

A statement by the Revolutionary Guard stated that its forces detected on Wednesday morning two “violating” ships in the Strait of Hormuz, stopped them, and took them to the Iranian coast, explaining that the first was named “MSC-Francesca” and flying the flag of Panama, and the second was “Epaminudas” and flying the flag of Liberia, and that tracking by the “Marine Traffic” website showed them near the Iranian coast northeast of Oman.

When asked whether this step was a violation of the ceasefire, Levitt responded to Fox News that this was not the case because the two ships were “neither American nor Israeli, but rather international ships,” while the British Maritime Trade Operations Authority announced that a third ship was exposed to fire eight nautical miles west of the Iranian coast, without specifying the attacker.

The US Navy continues to obstruct the movement of ships heading to and from Iranian ports, while Tehran stresses the need for ships to obtain prior permission to cross the Gulf waters through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas exports usually pass.

Before the recent attacks occurred, Trump had decided to extend the truce that began two weeks ago indefinitely in response to the request of Pakistani mediators and gave a deadline to the “divided” Iranian leadership to formulate a unified proposal, stressing at the same time that the blockade imposed on Iranian ports would remain in place as mediation efforts continued to revive negotiations.

This comes after Iran closed the strait following a US-Israeli attack on its territory on February 28, igniting a war that spread throughout the Middle East.

Read also: War in the Middle East: Extension of the truce with Iran and a round of Lebanese-Israeli talks Thursday in Washington

"false information"

The picture of the peace negotiations scheduled to be held in Pakistan remained blurry, after the collapse of a previous round as a result of Tehran's accusation that Washington was exaggerating its demands regarding the Strait of Hormuz and its nuclear program.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed to “X” his country’s readiness for “dialogue,” but he considered that the violation of commitments and the continuation of the blockade and threats constitute “major obstacles” to real negotiations, while Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei expressed his appreciation for Pakistani mediation without commenting on the extension of the truce.

On another level, Trump announced on Wednesday that the Iranian authorities had suspended the execution of death sentences against eight female demonstrators in response to his request, indicating that four of them would be released immediately and that the others would be sentenced to one month in prison. However, the Iranian judiciary accused him of “spreading false information” and denied the presence of eight women threatened with execution.

In parallel, Britain said that on Wednesday and Thursday it will host talks it is leading with France on the Strait of Hormuz with the participation of more than 30 countries, while the Turkish presidency quoted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as telling his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that the Middle East war “has begun to weaken Europe.”

Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington

On Thursday, Washington is waiting to host a new round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, in light of a ten-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that entered into force on Friday, amid exchanges of accusations of violating it.

According to an official source who spoke to Agence France-Presse, the Lebanese delegation is preparing to request an extension of the truce for a month, while Israel is urging Beirut to “cooperate” with it to confront Hezbollah.

On the ground, the National News Agency and the Ministry of Health in Lebanon reported that four people were killed in two Israeli raids on the south and east of the country. Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was also killed on Wednesday in an Israeli raid in the south, during which journalist Zainab Faraj was also injured before Khalil died later.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the death of a French soldier from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as a result of his injuries in an attack attributed to Hezbollah on Saturday, making him the second French soldier to die in the same attack.

Figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health indicate that 2,454 people were killed since the outbreak of the last war between Hezbollah and Israel on March 2 until the ceasefire entered into force, with more than a million people displaced, most of them from southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to official sources.

France 24/AFP

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