The US military has said it will begin a blockade of all Iranian ports at 14:00 GMT on Monday after President Donald Trump announced the naval blocking of the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of global crude supply normally passes.
The announcement comes after talks for a long-term peace plan ended on Saturday without a deal. The US-Iran talks in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, came days after the US agreed to a ceasefire with Iran.
Trump’s threat is the latest escalation in the war, pushing oil prices above 100 dollars a barrel and rattling Asian markets amid fears of a prolonged disruption to global supplies.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue while the US and Iran are heading towards another face-off.
Here are the latest developments on day 45 of the conflict:
(Al Jazeera)
In Iran
Following Trump’s decision on Sunday to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards warned that military vessels approaching the strait would be considered a ceasefire breach and dealt with harshly and decisively, underlining the risk of a dangerous escalation.
The Guards said Iranian security forces had full control over the Strait of Hormuz and warned that enemies would be trapped in a “deadly vortex” in case of any “wrong move”.
Iran’s navy chief Shahram Irani called Trump’s threat “ridiculous and funny”. State TV also said the military was “monitoring and supervising all the movements of the aggressive American army in the region”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had “encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade” when just inches away from an “Islamabad MoU.” He added: “Zero lessons learned. “Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity.”
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the weekend talks, said his country would not give in after Trump’s earlier threats to blockade the strait. “If they fight, we will fight, and if they come forward with logic, we will deal with logic,” he said, according to Iranian news agencies.
Ghalibaf posted a map of Washington-area gasoline prices on social media with the comment: “Enjoy the current pump figures. With the so-called ‘blockade’. Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4–$5 gas.”
Iran’s Mohsen Rezaee, a member of the Expediency Council, has warned that the US plan is “doomed to failure” and said Tehran had “untapped leverage” to counter it.
In the US
The US military said it will blockade all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 14:00 GMT, effectively seizing control of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important waterway through which almost all of the oil and gas from Gulf countries normally passes.
The US military’s Central Command says the navy will stop all vessels, from any nation, from passing through the Strait of Hormuz if they are sailing to or from Iran. Vessels transiting the strait to and from non-Iranian ports will not be impeded, the US military said.
On Sunday, Trump said the US navy will begin blockading the strait “immediately” after peace talks between the US and Iran ended without agreement.
The US president posted on social media that US forces would also intercept every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran. “No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas”.
Trump has criticised Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” after the pontiff urged an end to the war on Iran.
The US president said he does not care if Iran returns to negotiations with the United States after weekend talks in Pakistan failed to produce a deal. Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on April 12, 2026 [AFP]
In Lebanon
Lebanese official media reported extensive Israeli strikes across the south. The health ministry said at least five people were killed, with 2,055 dead overall.
Israel’s Channel 12 is reporting that an intruding drone set off alarms in Metula and the surrounding area. The broadcaster said the drone was intercepted and it is now safe for residents to leave their shelters.
Hezbollah said it launched a “rocket barrage” at northern Israel in response to what the Lebanese armed group said was the Israeli military’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, and “repeated attacks on the villages of the south”.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona with rocket barrages at 1:20am local time on Monday (23:20 GMT, Sunday), and the settlement of Doviv at 2:45am (00:46 GMT).
Israeli forces launched more raids on southern Lebanon. Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic say there have been two Israeli air strikes near the town of Choukine. Israeli air attacks are also being reported in the city of Nabatieh and the town of Mayfadoun.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, said: “We will continue to work to stop this war, to ensure the Israeli withdrawal from all our lands, the return of all the prisoners, to rebuild our destroyed villages and towns, and the safe return of the displaced”.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said an Israeli tank twice rammed peacekeeping vehicles in the south, where Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since last month.
In Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops who invaded southern Lebanon. He said Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah. “The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.
Israel insists the current Middle East ceasefire does not apply to its military operations in Lebanon which target Hezbollah.
Strait of Hormuz and global energy crisis
Asian stock markets have opened lower, and oil prices have surged past $100 a barrel after peace talks failed to produce a deal, and Trump ordered a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.84 percent, while the Topix slipped 0.42 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was 1.83 percent lower.
Lloyd’s List says shipping, which had been moving at reduced levels through the Strait of Hormuz, “immediately halted,” with some vessels turning back, after the US president announced plans for a blockade, the maritime intelligence firm said.
