US–Iran ceasefire: Strait of Hormuz reopened, Tehran warns of closure over US blockade

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Gulf News

2026/04/18 - 02:45 501 مشاهدة

More than 20 ships turned back by US blockade, US Central Command says

Since the blockade began on Monday, 21 ships returned to Iran at the direction of US forces, US Central Command said Friday evening.

US President Donald Trump said earlier on Friday that the American blockade of Iranian ports would remain “in full force” until Iran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) patrols the Arabian Sea, April 17, as U.S. forces enforce the naval blockade on ships attempting to enter or exit Iranian ports. Since commencement of the blockade, 21 ships have complied with direction from U.S. forces to… pic.twitter.com/2Ro1lq6ORq
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 18, 2026

US extends sanctions waiver on purchases of Russian oil

US President Donald Trump's administration on Friday issued a month-long sanctions waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products that are at sea, extending an earlier move to soften surging energy prices.

The license, issued by the Treasury Department, comes two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington would not renew the waiver.

The latest move allows for the purchase of oil and petroleum products that have been loaded onto any vessel as of Friday, through 12:01 am (0401 GMT) on May 16.

It prolongs an earlier easing of sanctions that expired on April 11.

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Australian PM welcomes Hormuz reopening, says hopes it holds

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed on Saturday Iran's agreement to stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz but said the situation remained "fragile".

"This was positive news that we received last night," Albanese told journalists in Sydney after participating in a multinational summit on the issue.

"We hope that it holds, but what we know is that the impact will be long lasting," he added.

First 24 hours without strikes in Israel since Iran war began

It’s been more than 24 hours since air raid sirens went off in any part of Israel — and that last time, very early on Friday morning in a small community at the border with Lebanon, turned out to be a mistaken identification.

Since the Iran war started on February 28, Iran, then Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants and eventually the Houthis in Yemen sent barrages of missiles and rockets into Israel, sometimes more than a dozen times a day. Hezbollah kept up firing right until a ceasefire went into effect Friday.

In Israel’s major metropolitan areas of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but also in villages in the country’s desert south and hilly north, sirens and alerts sent residents to bomb shelters and safe rooms throughout the day and night.

The strikes have killed 23 people and wounded about 600 more, according to Israel’s emergency services.

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Iran warns US blockade risks fresh Strait of Hormuz closure

Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted on X early Saturday that if the US blockade continued, “the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open.”

On Friday, Iran had said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but US President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports would “remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US.

And a data firm, Kpler, said later Friday that movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran’s approval.

Trump says US will go into Iran and excavate uranium

“The US will get all the nuclear dust,” Trump said in a speech in Arizona. “We’re going to get it by going in with Iran with lots of excavators.”

Iran has yet to confirm that its agreed to give up the 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites badly damaged by US military strikes last year.

Giving up the uranium and agreeing to US troops entering Iranian territory would be huge concessions by Iran.

Trump insisted that “no money will exchange hands in any way, shape or form” as part of a potential deal with Iran to end the war.

USS Ford returns to the Middle East

The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has again entered the waters of the Middle East, two defense officials told the Associated Press.

The Ford, which until recently was operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, transited the Suez Canal, along with a pair of destroyers, the USS Mahan and the USS Winston S. Churchill, and is now operating in the Red Sea, one official said.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The Ford is returning to the Red Sea after more than a month in the Mediterranean following a major fire in a laundry space that forced the ship back to port for repairs and left 600 sailors without places to sleep. The carrier also broke the record for the longest aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam war this week.

The Ford’s arrival makes it the second aircraft carrier in the region in addition to the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. The USS George H. W. Bush is also heading toward the region and is currently off the coast of South Africa, according to one defense official.

Trump says will bring Iran uranium 'back home to US'

President Donald Trump said that the United States and Iran would jointly remove uranium from Tehran's nuclear sites with excavators under any peace deal, before the material is transferred to US territory.

Trump's comment came despite Iran's foreign ministry saying earlier that the Islamic Republic's stockpile of enriched uranium would not be transferred "anywhere."

"Somebody said, how are we going to get the nuclear dust? We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators," Trump told a gathering of the conservative Turning Point USA movement in Phoenix, Arizona.

"We need the biggest excavators you can imagine," he added.

"But we're going to go in together with Iran. We're going to get it. We're going to take it back home to the USA very soon."

His remarks on Iran came during a speech to Turning Point USA, where he was introduced by Erika Kirk, the widow of the group's founder Charlie Kirk - a Trump ally who was assassinated in September.

Vessel movement remains constrained in Strait of Hormuz

Data firm Kpler said ship movement through the Strait of Hormuz remained confined to corridors requiring approval on Friday evening, hours after the US and Iran announced full reopening of the strategic waterway.

Iran’s state media reported the country’s conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the beginning of the war, included that all commercial vessels transiting must go through a route designated by Iran and in coordination with the IRGC Navy.

Kpler said that “markets have responded with cautious optimism” to the reopening decision, but warned that underlying supply dynamics remain tight, and a “full normalization in trade and confidence is likely to take months, not weeks.”

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Sri Lanka sent home 238 Iranian sailors

A US submarine sank the IRIS Dena on March 4 while the ship was returning home after taking part in a naval exercise on invitation from India.

The Sri Lankan navy recovered 87 bodies and 32 were hospitalized. A second Iranian ship was brought to a southern Sri Lankan port after its crew reported technical problems.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Franklin Joseph said Friday that everyone except for a few crew members from the second ship had been repatriated earlier this week.

The Iranian ship has been anchored in the eastern port of Trincomalee port and no decision has been taken on what should be done with it.

Iran navy chief calls US blockade ‘piracy’

The commander of the Iranian navy, Shahram Irani, said Friday evening that Trump “has blockaded his friends” and not Iran, as the U.S. said its blockade will remain in place after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial traffic.

In a statement carried by Mizan, Iran’s official judiciary news agency, the navy chief said Trump’s blockade is just “empty words” and that no one is listening to him.

The US military says it has turned 19 ships back to Iran since imposing the blockade earlier this week.