The ships had left Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman and were contacted by the warship via radio communication, the official said. It was unclear whether any further warnings were given.

US Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday there was a lot of mistrust between Washington and Tehran that cannot be resolved overnight but he added that Iranian negotiators wanted to make a deal and that he felt "very good about where we are."

Talks to end the Iran war could resume in Pakistan over the next two days, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, after the collapse of weekend negotiations ​prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.

The US Treasury Department said Tuesday it does not plan to renew a temporary easing of sanctions on Iranian oil that aimed to ease war-related supply shocks.

"The short-term authorization permitting the sale of Iranian oil already stranded at sea is set to expire in a few days and will not be renewed," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

It added that it is "maintaining maximum pressure" on Tehran.

US-Iran peace talks may shift to Pakistan's capital, with President Donald Trump indicating that the next round of negotiations "could be happening over the next two days" in Islamabad.

Lebanon's ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh Moawad called for a ceasefire during "constructive" talks on Tuesday with Israeli officials in Washington, she said in a statement.
The "preparatory meeting was constructive", the envoy's statement said, adding that she "called for a ceasefire" and the return of displaced people to their homes, and also emphasised "the full sovereignty of the state" over all Lebanese territory.

Days after the US-Iranian talks in Pakistan failed, US President Donald Trump said that negotiations could resume "over the next two days." Speaking to the New York Post on Tuesday, Trump confirmed that the venue is going to stay the same -- Pakistan.

US President Donald Trump criticised Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for her unwillingness to help in the Iran war, in an interview published Tuesday.

"I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," he said of his political ally in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Meloni, Italy's far-right leader since October 2022, has been one of Trump's closest allies in Europe and often seeks to act as a mediator between diverging US and European views.

Trump said she did not want Italy to be involved in the war, which began with Israeli-US attacks on Iran, even though it gets much of its oil from the region.

Netanyahu: "Vance reported to me on his way back from Islamabad, as he does every day."
For the first time in history, a senior official of a government is providing "daily briefings" to the head of another state!
The issue is not us; it is a matter of structural humiliation.…

— Aref| First VP Iran (@fvpresidentiran) April 14, 2026

The announcement comes as the US and Iran deliberate on the possibility of another round of talks before the ceasefire expires after the talks in Pakistan broke down.

Two ships from Iran ports pass Hormuz Strait despite US blockade: tracker

(AFP)

Baghdad's oil ministry said Tuesday it has "understandings" with the United States and Iran to reduce the impact of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on Iraqi oil exports.

The ministry did not elaborate or say when these reported understandings were reached. 

But Iran announced earlier this month -- before the fragile ceasefire was reached last Wednesday with the United States -- that it would allow Iraqi shipping to transit the key waterway.

(AFP)

Italy Suspends Defence Agreement With Israel, Cites "Current Situation"

On April 11 and 12, delegations from the United States and Iran held talks in Islamabad to discuss mutually acceptable terms amidst a two-week ceasefire. Late on April 12, US Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation, asserted that the talks had failed to yield an outcome, and US President Trump announced that the US Navy would "blockade" the Strait of Hormuz. Amidst uncertainty, two fundamental characteristics of the ceasefire still remain - neither Tehran nor Washington have ruled out further talks, and Iran is yet to resume missile/drone attacks at US bases in the Gulf (which keeps the US-Iran ceasefire technically intact). A third, more crucial, characteristic also remains intact: that Israel (which was not in the room in Islamabad) continues to significantly influence, if not upend, American diplomacy with Iran. Regardless of the substance, the Iranian delegation (led by Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf) meeting JD Vance represented the highest level of direct US-Iran contact in 47 years.

However, it became evident that while talks began on a positive trajectory, with technical teams, written exchanges, and structured discussions, the Iranians maintain that a call by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to VP Vance turned the US position more untenable in subsequent negotiations, which lasted for 21 hours overall.

Read here

China vowed Tuesday to impose "countermeasures" after US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on its goods entering the United States if Beijing provided military assistance to Iran during the Middle East war.

"If the US insists on using this as an excuse to impose additional tariffs on China, China will definitely take resolute countermeasures," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference, adding that reports China was providing weapons to Iran "are completely fabricated".

China said on Tuesday that a US blockade around Iranian ports was "dangerous and irresponsible", after US President Donald Trump threatened to sink any boats that sought to leave or dock there.

"The US increased military operations and took a targeted blockade action, which will only exacerbate tensions and undermine the already fragile ceasefire agreement and further jeopardise safety of passage through the Strait," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference, adding "this is dangerous and irresponsible behaviour".

China's President Xi Jinping vowed Tuesday that his country would play a "constructive role" in promoting peace talks in the Middle East, Chinese state media reported, after a first round of discussions between the United States and Iran ended without agreement.

"Xi Jinping stressed China's principled stance of promoting peace and urging talks, and reiterated it will continue to play a constructive role on this," state news agency Xinhua said.

Inside Islamabad's luxury Serena Hotel, the talks unfolded across two separate wings and one common area, one for the US side, one for the Iranians and one for trilateral meetings involving Pakistani mediators, operational staff told Reuters.

Among the slew of issues at stake was the Strait of Hormuz, a major transit point for global energy supplies that Iran has effectively blocked, but the US has vowed to reopen, as well as Iran's nuclear programme and international sanctions on Tehran.

Phones were not allowed in the main room, forcing delegates, including US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, to step out during breaks to relay messages back home, two of the sources said.

The US-Israel war against Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have shattered a status quo that prevailed among Middle East oil and gas producers for decades. America's Gulf ally, Saudi Arabia, is now reportedly worried that President Donald Trump's move to block the Iranian port may worsen the situation. 

Riyadh is reportedly 'pressing' the Donald Trump administration to 'drop its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table', according to a Wall Street Journal report. Arab officials told the American publication that Saudi Arabia fears that Trump's move to close Iranian ports could lead Tehran to escalate and disrupt other important shipping routes

The US decision to blockade all Iranian shipments out of or into the Strait of Hormuz is aimed at raising the pressure on Iran's already crippled economy. But Saudi Arabia has reportedly warned the US that Iran might retaliate by closing the Bab al-Mandeb --a Red Sea chokepoint crucial for the kingdom's remaining oil exports. 

After weeks of destruction & distress, it is clear that there is no military solution to the current conflict in the Middle East.
I call for resumption of talks for an agreement to be reached.
The ceasfire must absolutely be preserved. All violations must cease.
All parties to…

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 13, 2026

According to a report by Daily Express US, an alleged crypto scam network linked to the Iranian regime is targeting Americans on dating platforms such as Tinder and Bumble. 

The modus operandi is familiar. A friendly chat. A quick bond. Then, an investment tip. Victims believe they are building a relationship. In reality, they are being guided toward a fake crypto investment platform. The money may ultimately be routed into Iran's treasury.

Bezalel Eithan Raviv, a Tel Aviv-based blockchain forensic expert and founder of Lionsgate Network, has said Iran, North Korea and Russia target citizens to finance geopolitical agendas. His firm earlier assisted Israeli authorities in tracing and seizing over $90 million in crypto funds from Hamas after the October 7 attacks.

A US-sanctioned tanker linked to China is making its way through the Strait of Hormuz, testing President Donald Trump's naval blockade.

Rich Starry, a medium-range tanker earlier known as Full Star, was blacklisted by Washington in 2023 for helping Tehran evade energy sanctions. It is not clear on this occasion whether it visited Iranian ports before its transit, or is carrying cargo.

This exit from the Persian Gulf is a second attempt for the carrier in less than 24 hours. Just as the blockade came into effect, Rich Starry was making its way into the narrow waterway near Iran's Qeshm Island and turned back - only to restart its exit just hours later, broadcasting that it has a Chinese owner and crew. This is a safety mechanism frequently used by vessels, but will test US resolve to challenge vessels tied to the world's largest oil importer.

A disagreement over Tehran's nuclear activities was the central sticking point in the weekend negotiations between Iran and the United States in Pakistan. Washington has proposed a 20-year freeze on Iran's uranium enrichment in its proposal, but Tehran said it could only agree to do it for five years, according to reports by The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The miserable pirates of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. pic.twitter.com/bOzJy9K3Rb

— Iran Embassy SA (@IraninSA) April 13, 2026

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday urged Lebanon to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington, reiterating his group's rejection of direct negotiations with Israel.

"We call for a historic and heroic stance by cancelling this negotiating meeting," Qassem, whose Iran-backed group has been at war with Israel since March 2, said in a televised address.

The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that a soldier had been killed in Lebanon, the first since a US-Iran temporary truce came into force that Israel insisted does not include the country where it is fighting Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

"Sergeant Major (Res.) Ayal Uriel Bianco, aged 30, from Katzrin, a firefighting vehicle driver in the 188th Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Iran slammed a US blockade around its ports on Monday as a "grave violation" of its sovereignty, as Washington and Tehran's belligerent rhetoric rattled a fragile truce.

"The imposition of a maritime blockade constitutes a grave violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a letter seen by AFP.

The "unlawful" blockade also "constitutes a serious violation of the fundamental principles of the international law of the sea," Iravani added.

The first vessel has crossed the Strait of Hormuz after the US imposed a military blockade of Iran's ports, according to ship tracking data.

The container ship Paya Lebar is en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from India.

After peace talks between the US and Iran failed in Islamabad, the two nations are looking for a second round of in-person negotiations in a bid to reach a deal aimed at ending the war, two US officials and person familiar with the development told the Associated Press.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (April 7) night announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, saying he had accepted Pakistan's proposal. Following this, the two nations met in Islamabad on April 11 to finalise negotiations but the peace talks failed.

Discussions are underway about a new round of talks. A diplomat from one of the mediating countries said Tehran and Washington have agreed to it, reported AP.

All four spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations.

It's unclear if the same level of delegation would be expected to attend, the diplomat and US officials said.

The diplomat and US officials said Islamabad was once again being discussed as the host location. The US officials also said Geneva was a possibility, and that while the venue and timing had not been decided, the talks could happen Thursday.

The White House didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Trump told reporters earlier Monday that "we've been called by the other side" and "they want to work a deal."

US President Donald Trump on Monday shared an image apparently depicting him as Jesus. Trump is seen in flowing red and white robes, touching the forehead of what appeared to be a sick man and with light shining from his hand and head.

An American flag waved in the background while various figures gazed up at the president in reverence.

Resharing the picture on X (formerly Twitter), Iran Embassy in South Africa asked: "Is it Epstein being cared for in the Healing Ministry of Trump?"

Is it Epstein being cared for in the Healing Ministry of Trump? pic.twitter.com/KdVvl3DncW

— Iran Embassy SA (@IraninSA) April 13, 2026

Saudi Arabia is pressing the US to drop its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table, fearing President Trump’s move to close it off could lead Iran to escalate and disrupt other important shipping routes, The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting Arab officials.

Amid ongoing tensions with the US, Iran Embassy in Australia sharng a video of what it called the "world's largest mall." The mall spread across 2 million square meters is said to have over 2,500 shops, bazaar, ice rink, musical fountain, a library that feels like Hogwarts, cinemas, gardens and food courts, the Embassy wrote in a social media post.

The world's largest mall is amazing!! 2 million sq meters of pure wonder: 2500+ shops, stunning bazaar, massive ice rink, epic musical fountain, huge library that feels like Hogwarts, cinemas, gardens, and endless food courts! It's a whole city of magic! Iran Mall, Tehran. 📷 pic.twitter.com/4YMnWbUmVD

— Iran Embassy in Australia (@IraninAustralia) April 13, 2026

The ongoing US-Iran war is also unfolding on social media with Iran embassies taking a dig at US President Donald Trump using memes.

Iran Embassy in South Africa shared an edited video of Trump playing a keyboard and singing the song "blockade." The lyrics read: "I'll never give you up. The Strait of Hormuz must be shut."

"I think soon I get impeachie," Trump sings.

And today’s popular music: “blockade” by Trump. pic.twitter.com/7EYQ1nSTm7

— Iran Embassy SA (@IraninSA) April 13, 2026

US President Donald Trump warned Monday that any Iranian attack boats that approach the American naval blockade around Iran's ports would be destroyed, despite international calls for a ceasefire to be respected and negotiations to resume.

The US military said the blockade, which took effect at 7:30 PM (IST), applied to all ships leaving or seeking to dock at Iranian harbors.

In a social media post, Trump said 34 ships went through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, "which is by far the highest number since this foolish closure began."

The dollar was largely steady on Tuesday as investors weighed supply risks stemming from a U.S. blockade of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz against the prospect of continued dialogue between Washington and Tehran that could lead to a breakthrough.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.04% to 98.38, with the euro up 0.03% at $1.1761.

The yen strengthened 0.08% against the greenback to 159.3 per dollar. Sterling strengthened 0.03% to $1.3508.

US Vice President JD Vance urged the Vatican Monday to "stick to matters of morality" amid an escalating row between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo over Iran.

"I certainly think that in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality... and let the President United States stick to dictating American public policy," Vance told Fox News's "Special Report with Bret Baier."

US President Donald Trump said Monday that the American military had begun a blockade of Iranian ports as part of his effort to force Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

US Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Washington has made its red lines clear in talks with Iran on ending the Mideast war and it is now up to Tehran to take action.

ance led a delegation that met with Iranian officials in Pakistan over the weekend, but the talks ended without securing a deal to end the more than five-week US-Israeli assault against the Islamic republic.

"I really think the ball is in the Iranian court, because we put a lot on the table. We actually made very clear what our red lines were," Vance said in an interview with Fox News.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to end fighting in southern Lebanon and engage in direct peace talks with the Lebanese government, a spokesman said.

Merz also expressed his "grave concern" about developments in the Palestinian territories in a telephone conversation with Netanyahu and demanded that there "must be no de facto partial annexation of the West Bank", the German government spokesman said.

The spokesman said Merz offered Germany's continuing support for efforts "to reach a diplomatic understanding between the United States and Iran" in the war launched by Israel and the US on February 28.

Iran War: The officials are reviewing potential dates and locations, contingent on the progress of ongoing talks with Iran and regional mediators in the coming days.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday urged Lebanon to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington the following day, reiterating his group's rejection of direct negotiations with its foe.

"We reject negotiations with the usurping Israeli entity... We call for a historic and heroic stance by cancelling this negotiating meeting," Qassem, whose Iran-backed group has been at war with Israel since March 2, said in a televised address.

The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss holding direct negotiations between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump said 34 ships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, adding that it was the highest number since Iran choked off the waterway during the Middle East war.
"34 Ships went through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, which is by far the highest number since this foolish closure began," Trump said on Truth Social on Monday. The figure could not be immediately corroborated.

Maintaining a ceasefire in the Middle East war is an "immediate priority" for resolving the conflict, China's top diplomat told his Pakistan counterpart in a phone call on Monday.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said on Monday that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran was "holding" and that efforts were underway to reach an agreement after talks in Islamabad at the weekend failed to do so.

"The immediate priority is to make every effort toward preventing the resumption of hostilities and to maintain the hard-won ceasefire momentum," Wang Yi told Pakistan's Ishaq Dar, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Wang said a joint peace plan by China and Pakistan announced last month as the two officials met in Beijing "still can serve as a direction for efforts toward a resolution".

Iran's Ambassador to India Mohammad Fathali warned of consequences that would extend well beyond the US and Iran as the American blockade starts taking shape in the Persian Gulf

The son of Iran's ousted shah said Monday he is in regular contact with various elements of the highly-divided Iranian opposition in exile, reiterating his desire "to serve as a unifying national figure, not a partisan one."

Reza Pahlavi was speaking during a visit to Stockholm, where he gave a speech on the premises of the country's parliament, invited by the conservative Christian Democrats and the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza was brought down by the 1979 Islamic revolution, has repeatedly said he was ready to lead a transition if the Islamic republic fell in the war with the United States and Israel that erupted in late February.

The Iranian opposition remains deeply fragmented, with groups drawn from ethnic minorities, liberal circles and left-wing movements opposed to him and his supporters. 

Asked what he was doing to bring together the different parts of Iranian society, Pahlavi replied that he was in regular contact with them. 

"I talk to them, I hold dialogue with them, I meet them," he said, without specifying exactly with whom.

He said there was "enough room" for anyone who prescribed to the four basic principles he believed formed the foundation of a "democratic discourse".

The four principles were Iran's territorial integrity; a clear separation of state and religion; equality of all citizens before the law; and the establishment of a mechanism to organise free and fair elections.

"Any Iranians -- regardless if they are leftist, centre or right, monarchist or republicans, or regardless (of the) ethnicities that they represent -- (if they) believe in this approach, (they) can work together and cooperate," he argued.

Pahlavi has encouraged Israel and the United States to wage war in Iran, sparking division among Iranians. 

The autocratic and repressive rule of his father, from whom he has not distanced himself, has also earned him enemies. 

Pahlavi has failed to gain the support of US President Donald Trump, who has never officially met him and who has on several occasions expressed skepticism about his ability to lead Iran. 

Inside the country, opposition figures, including the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, face repression.

Even while imprisoned, she has been attacked online from abroad by Pahlavi's supporters.

Shirin Ebadi, another Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has faced criticism from Iranians after being appointed to head a transitional justice committee created by Pahlavi.

President Donald Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform said US forces would destroy any Iranian "fast attack ships" that approach the American naval blockade of Iranian ports that came into effect on Monday.

"Iran's Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated - 158 ships. What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, 'fast attack ships,' because we did not consider them much of a threat. Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea. It is quick and brutal. P.S. 98.2% of Drugs coming into the U.S. by Ocean or Sea have STOPPED! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT".

The head of the UN maritime agency said Monday no country had a legal right to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a trade passage paralysed by the US-Iran war.

The International Maritime Organization's Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez addressed a news conference as access to the strait remained blocked six weeks after the war erupted with US and Israeli strikes against Iran.

The United States had threatened to begin a blockade on Monday of Iranian ports in and around the strait, which Tehran's forces have been controlling access to since after the war broke out on February 28.

"In accordance to international law, no countries have the right to prohibit the right of innocent passage or the freedom of navigation through international straits that are used for international transit," Dominguez said.

Iranian authorities have been allowing a trickle of vetted vessels to pass the strait through a route close to their coast and in some cases have reportedly levied a payment to let vessels through.

"This principle of introducing a toll on an international strait for international navigation is against the international law of the sea and the customary law," Dominguez said.

"It will create a very dangerous precedent."

The US vow to blockade Iranian ports meanwhile "doesn't make it any easier", he added.

"De-escalation is what is going to start helping us to address the crisis and to bring shipping back to the way that we used to operate."

He predicted that the extra impact of a US blockade on shipping would be negligible, however.

"With the very few number of ships that have managed to transit, an additional blockade is not going to exacerbate the situation in a level that it could be perceived."

The call, according to Benjamin Netanyahu, was made by JD Vance from his plane en route back from the Pakistani capital.

The U.S. military will enforce a blockade in Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea east of the Strait of Hormuz and it will apply to all vessel traffic regardless of flag, the U.S. Central Command said in a note to seafarers seen by Reuters on Monday.

The advanced note said the blockade would come into effect at 1400 GMT on Monday.

"Any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to interception, diversion, and capture," the note said.

"The blockade will not impede neutral transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz to or from non-Iranian destinations."

The Israeli military said on Monday its troops had completely surrounded a key town in southern Lebanon after killing more than 100 Hezbollah fighters there over the past week.

The announcement marks a significant advance in Israel's ongoing invasion of southern Lebanon.

"The forces of the 98th Division have completed the encirclement of the town of Bint Jbeil and have begun an assault on it," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee said on X.

Over the past week, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in and around the town in "face-to-face" clashes and with air strikes, he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting that since Sunday the fighting in southern Lebanon had been "concentrated" in Bint Jbeil.

"The fighting continues. It has not stopped -- it is ongoing all the time. Yesterday and today it has been concentrated in Bint Jbeil," he said, according to a video statement released by his office on Monday.

Netanyahu said that Israeli troops were pushing Hezbollah fighters away from the border.

"We are talking about a solid security belt, deeper than before, one that prevents the danger of infiltration and pushes back the anti-tank threat," he said.

"They are also dealing with the terror villages that were right up against us -- every terror position, and there were many, has simply been flattened."

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it has been engaged for days in clashes with Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Ministry of External Affairs are in coordination to bring back a total of 15 Indian-flagged vessels stranded at the Strait of Hormuz.

Addressing an inter-ministerial briefing on Monday, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Additional Secretary Mukesh Mangal said, "We, in coordination with MEA, are trying, putting our efforts to bring our vessels back. And as soon as it is possible for our vessels to sail from the Strait of Hormuz, those vessels will come back. At present, a total of 15 Indian-flagged and Indian-owned vessels are there."

Meanwhile, the Indian-flagged vessel 'Jag Vikram', carrying 20,400 metric tonnes of LPG, is likely to arrive at Kandla, Gujarat, on April 14.

Mukesh Mangal said that the vessel with 24 seafarers on board crossed the Strait of Hormuz on April 11.

The transit marks a breakthrough for New Delhi, as it is the first Indian ship to navigate the strategic corridor after the announcement of a 14-day ceasefire between the US and Iran, aimed at cooling regional hostilities and restoring essential maritime trade routes.

The Additional Secretary further provided a reassuring update on the status of vessels and crew members in the Gulf region, highlighting that no incident has been reported involving Indian vessels in the past 24 hours.

"We have received no report of any incident related to an Indian-flagged vessel in the last 24 hours. The Ministry has facilitated safe repatriation of more than 2177 Indian seafarers till now, including 93 seafarers in the last 24 hours," he said.

The ministry emphasised its commitment to ensuring seafarer welfare and uninterrupted maritime operations, highlighting continuous coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions, and maritime stakeholders.

"Operations are normal at every Indian port, and there have been no reports of any congestion," the Ministry added.

The importance of passage of Jag Vikram is further highlighted by the fact that nearly 90 per cent of India's liquefied petroleum gas imports are sourced from nations in the Gulf region.

France and Britain will co-host a summit this week to discuss a "coordinated, independent, multinational plan" to safeguard shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday.

Britain had convened "more than 40 nations who share our aim to restore freedom of navigation" and the summit will discuss ways to protect shipping "when the conflict ends," Starmer said.

Britain and France will work on a "peaceful multinational mission" that would be "separate from the warring parties," French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier Monday.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February sparked a region-wide war and brought traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a near standstill, blocking a key route for global oil and gas shipments.

Iran and the United States last week agreed to a two-week cessation of hostilities, but ceasefire talks between the warring sides in Pakistan on the weekend ended in failure.

US President Donald Trump responded by ordering his navy to carry out a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday. 

Trump also said, on his Truth Social platform, that "Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade" but did not specify which ones.

The UK-French initiative, which Macron and Starmer announced on X, appeared to be separate from Trump's announced blockade.

On April 2, a UK-led diplomatic meeting of some 40 countries demanded "the immediate and unconditional reopening" of the vital shipping route.

Macron said the conference would involve "countries prepared to contribute alongside us to a peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait".

"This strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict, is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit," he said.

The US military said the blockade of the Strait ordered by Trump would begin at 1400 GMT, and apply to all ships leaving or seeking to dock at Iranian ports on either side of the key waterway.

Starmer said Monday that Britain will not join the naval blockade announced by Trump.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel supports US President Donald Trump's decision to impose a naval blockade on Iran, adding that his government is in full coordination with Washington on the matter.

"Iran violated the rules (of the peace talks in Pakistan), President Trump decided to impose a naval blockade," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, according to a video statement released by his office.

"We, of course, support this firm position, and we are in constant coordination with the United States."

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday spoke with Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif and expressed her support for his mediation efforts between the US and Iran to de-escalate the situation in West Asia.

During their conversation, the two leaders discussed the recently held Islamabad Talks between the United States and Iran, hosted by Pakistan.

"Prime Minister Takaichi appreciated Pakistan's diplomatic role in facilitating the ceasefire and talks. She expressed Japan's full support for the peace process and its importance for regional stability and global energy security," according to a statement by the PM Office here.

In a post on X, Takaichi said she conveyed Japan's position that the most important thing moving forward is to achieve de-escalation of the situation, including ensuring the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

She said that it is essential to reach a final agreement at an early date through these talks.

"I explained that Japan has thus far maintained communications at the summit level with both the US and Iran, and has been intensifying diplomatic efforts toward the early de-escalation of the situation," she said.

While thanking the Japanese Prime Minister for her good wishes, PM Shehbaz said that he was grateful to both the US and Iranian delegations for their extensive discussions in Islamabad.

He also said that Pakistan would continue its efforts to ensure that the ceasefire is maintained.

The Prime Minister expressed his desire to strengthen Pakistan-Japan bilateral cooperation, which was reciprocated by the Japanese leader as well.

According to the PMO statement, both leaders agreed to maintain close coordination.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced that France and the United Kingdom will jointly lead a multinational initiative aimed at restoring free and secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz amid uncertainties over the virtual control of the strategic waterway between the US and Iran.

In a post on X, Macron said that the move is part of broader diplomatic efforts to address escalating tensions in the Middle East and ensure long-term regional stability and emphasised that the mission would be "strictly defensive" and separate from any parties involved in ongoing hostilities.

Macron stated that France and the UK will convene a conference in the coming days with countries willing to contribute to a "peaceful multinational mission" to safeguard maritime traffic through the vital chokepoint, which is crucial for global energy shipments.

"Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, we will organise with the United Kingdom, in the coming days, a conference with countries ready to contribute alongside us to a peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait. This strictly defensive mission, distinct from the belligerents, will be deployed as soon as the situation allows," Macron said in his post. 

No effort must be spared to swiftly reach, through diplomatic means, a strong and lasting settlement to the conflict in the Middle East.

Such a settlement must provide the region with a robust framework enabling all to live in peace and security.…

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 13, 2026

Iran has resumed rail services on key routes after repairing sections of track damaged during the war with Israel and the United States, reported news agency AFP citing state media.

Authorities have in recent days begun reconstruction work on bridges, railway lines and other infrastructure hit during nearly 40 days of fighting.

Reopening the strategically crucial Strait of Hormuz is proving to be difficult for the Donald Trump administration, with talks in Islamabad ending without an agreement between Tehran and Washington over the weekend. But even if the vital waterway fully reopens, it will not be enough to ease the global oil crisis stemming from the blockade. 

According to experts, even if all tankers already struck at Hormuz are allowed passage, things won't normalise until shipping lines start re-entering the Persian Gulf. 

According to experts, from tanker owners to their insurers, almost nobody is confident enough to pass through the strait. They won't let their ships re-enter the Gulf unless they're sure vessels won't be caught there for weeks or longer, they said. 

"A two-week ceasefire and a ceasefire that's fragile -- I don't think that would give the confidence (to ship operators) that is needed," Lale Akoner, a global market analyst at eToro, told CNN. 

She noted that without new ships entering the Gulf to pick up the next loads of oil, fertilizer, or other much-needed cargo, the benefits of hundreds of fully loaded ships sailing out of the strait would be short-lived. 

Operations resumed on Monday at a major gas facility in Iraq's Kurdish region, the Emirati company running the complex said, after more than a month of disruption due to the US-Iran war.

Dana Gas announced "the resumption of production of the Khor Mor gas facility in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, following a period of intermittent operations", according to a statement published by the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.

On February 28, the UAE company suspended natural gas supplies from the complex as war broke out, authorities in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region had said.

China on Monday called reports it had supplied or intended to supply weapons to Iran "baseless smears", after several outlets quoted US intelligence sources to that effect.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump threatened Beijing with a "staggering" new tariff of 50 percent if it were to provide military assistance to Tehran.

His comments came the same day CNN reported that US intelligence indicated China was preparing to deliver new air defence systems to Iran within the next few weeks, citing three people familiar with the assessments.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran was just "inches away" from a peace deal with Washington before the weekend talks with the United States collapsed in Islamabad. He said the Iranian delegation negotiated with the US in "good faith" for an end to the war, but according to him, they encountered "maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade" from the American side. 

"In intensive talks at the highest level in 47 years, Iran engaged with the US in good faith to end the war. But when just inches away from the "Islamabad MoU", we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade," Araghchi wrote in a post on X. 

He then echoed earlier threats from Iranian officials. "Zero lessons earned. Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity."

Iran's Armed Forces, in response to Donald Trump's threat to block the Hormuz passage for all Iranian ports from today onwards, said that the security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is "either for everyone or no one," state TV said.

"If Iran's ports are threatened, NO PORT in the region will be safe," it said.

🚨 BREAKING
Statement of Iran’s Armed Forces Central HQ in response to the U.S. naval blockade of Iran:
"Security in the PersianGulf and the Sea of Oman is either for everyone or for NO ONE. If Iran’s ports are threatened, NO PORT in the region will be safe."

— IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) (@iribnews_irib) April 13, 2026

Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, mocked US President Donald Trump's warning to block the ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, reminding the White House of rising gas prices in the US. He shared an image of current petrol prices near the White House, warning Americans that they 'will miss them' soon. The warning came as the US military announced it would begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering Iranian ports from Monday evening (Iranian time). 

"Enjoy the current pump figures," Ghalibaf wrote in a post on social media platform X. "With the so-called 'blockade', soon you'll be nostalgic for $4-$5 gas." FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES

He also shared an equation "ΔO_BSOH>0 ⇒ f(f(O))>f(O)", accompanied by a screenshot of Google Maps showing American gas prices, aiming to warn US consumers about future price hikes.

Iranian state media has released a video of what it said was a "warning" by the Iranian navy to a US Navy warship to turn back after entering the Strait of Hormuz.

While the US announced on Saturday that two guided-missile destroyers, USS Frank E Petersen Jr and USS Michael Murphy, transited Hormuz -- which has mostly been blocked by Iran since the war broke out in February -- to begin clearing Iranian-laid mines, Tehran denied the claim.

A video posted by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB on X showed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's (IRGC) "Sepah" (Corps) personnel warning the USS Frank E Peterson to "alter course" and "go back".

"Navy warship 121. This is Sepah Navy station. You must alter course and go back to the Indian Ocean immediately. If you don't obey my order, you will be targeted," the Iranian Navy member is heard telling the US warship by using its hull identification number.

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest number since 1989, two NGOs said Monday, warning it risked using capital punishment even more extensively after protests in January and the war against Israel and the US.

The number of executions represented an increase of 68 percent on the 975 people Iran put to death in 2024, and also included 48 women who were hanged, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in their joint annual report.

If the Islamic Republic "survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression", the report said.

Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, representative of Iran's Supreme Leader in India, said the Strait of Hormuz belongs to all countries and "not just the US".

"We want this Strait to be open, but the situation is not good now, and some ships are being allowed to pass through it. We have to ask the world leaders and all people who are looking for peace and justice to put their voices together and stop the war. What are the American ships doing in the Persian Gulf? They must leave," he said.

He added, "We are ready for negotiations, but based on rationality, dignity, humanity, and observation of our rights. We never left the negotiation table; the US did, because they asked for a lot of things."

US President Donald Trump has warned that Iran would not be able to sell oil and it won't have nuclear weapons, a day after failed Islamabad talks and his threat to block the Strait of Hormuz for all Iranian ports.

Trump, speaking to reporters, called Iran "desperate".

"Iran is in bad shape. Their military, navy, and aircraft have been destroyed. Iran is desperate. We had a word with them in Pakistan for more than 21 hours. They will not have a nuclear weapon. We have a blockade going on. Iran shall not be able to sell oil," he said.

According to Trump, the US has more oil than Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Iran's navy chief Shahram Irani on Sunday called US President Donald Trump's threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz "ridiculous", after marathon talks between Tehran and Washington in Pakistan failed to deliver a deal to end the Middle East war.

"The brave men of the naval force of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran are monitoring and supervising all the movements of the aggressive American army in the region. The threats of the US president to blockade Iran at sea... are very ridiculous and funny," he said, according to state TV.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have declared that Iranian security forces hold the Strait of Hormuz under full control and have warned that any enemy miscalculation would result in forces being trapped in its "deadly vortex".

The Guards' naval command made the statement in a Persian-language post on X on Sunday, following President Donald Trump's order for a US naval blockade of the strait. 

"All traffic... is under the full control of the armed forces," the post read. "The enemy will become trapped in a deadly vortex in the Strait if it makes the wrong move." 

Trump announced on Sunday that the US Navy would "immediately" begin a blockade to prevent ships from entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz. The move came after US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan concluded without an agreement.

Iran has demanded the right to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait. Trump responded that no one who pays them would "have safe passage on the high seas".

A phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to US Vice President JD Vance made in the middle of negotiations derailed what could have been a breakthrough in the Iran-US standoff, Tehran has claimed.

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi made the allegation on X today, hours after Vance left Islamabad without an agreement following over 21 hours of talks in the Pakistani capital.

"Netanyahu's call to Vance during the meeting shifted the focus from US-Iran negotiations to Israel's interests," Araghchi wrote. "The US tried to achieve at the negotiating table what it could not achieve through war."

He said Iran had entered the Pakistan-hosted negotiations in good faith, adding Vance's press conference before his departure was "unnecessary." He said Iran remained "committed and prepared to safeguard our nation's interest and sovereignty."

Washington has not confirmed or denied the Netanyahu call.

Oil tankers are steering clear of the Strait of Hormuz ahead of a US blockade later on Monday following failed peace talks between the US and Iran over the weekend, shipping data showed, reported news agency Reuters.

US President Donald Trump ordered the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in response to Iran's "unyielding" refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions during peace talks in Islamabad.

While acknowledging that the marathon negotiations in Pakistan had gone "well" and "most points were agreed to," Trump said Tehran had refused to concede on the issue of its nuclear programme.

"Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The US military will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz today at around 7:30 pm (IST), shortly after President Donald Trump's order. The military, however, asserted that it will "not impede freedom" of navigation for vessels transiting the Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.