US President Donald Trump said he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran to allow for further peace talks, although it was not clear on Wednesday if Iran or Israel, the US ally in the two-month war, would agree.
But even as he announced what appeared to be a unilateral ceasefire extension, Trump also said he would continue the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea, considered an act of war by Tehran.
There was no response early on Wednesday to Trump’s announcement from senior Iranian officials, although some initial reactions from Tehran suggested Trump’s comments were being treated sceptically.
The US and Israel began the war on 28 February with aerial bombardments of Iran. The conflict quickly spread to Gulf states that host American military bases and to Lebanon once the Iran-backed Hezbollah joined the fighting.
More than 5,000 civilians have been killed across the region and hundreds of thousands displaced so far, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and the war has led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint in global energy markets between Iran and Oman, sending oil prices soaring and fears that the global economy could enter a recession.
West Asia war | HIGHLIGHTS
8 pm: ‘Good news’ on talks by Friday, say Pakistani sources
Pakistani sources told the New York Post that “good news” about the proposed second round of talks between the US and Iran could be expected by Friday within the next “36 to 72 hours.” Asked about it, US President Donald Trump told the publication: “It’s possible.”
4.10 pm: IRGC says it has seized two vessels
IRGC said it has seized two vessels, MSC Francesca and Epaminondas, which have been transferred to the territorial waters of Iran for “inspection of their cargo, documents, and records”.
The ships were “operating without authorisation” and committed “repeated violations”, it said, adding that they were trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz “in secret”.
Read this report by Debdutta Chakraborty to know more.
Iran's IRGC Navy says it seized two vessels, MSC-FRANCESCA and EPAMINODES, for manipulating navigation systems and endangering safety in the Strait of Hormuz.
— Mehr News Agency (@MehrnewsCom) April 22, 2026
3.00 pm: A third ship on Strait of Hormuz attacked
A third cargo ship has been attacked while attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, maritime intelligence firm Vanguard told BBC.
BBC said the ship was Panama-flagged MSC Francesca. It was targeted off Iran’s coast while hearing towards the Gulf of Oman. Vanguard said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “instructed” the ship to drop its anchor. It has “damage to the hull and accommodation”.
Before this, the UK Navy said two ships came under fire. An IRGC boat approached a container ship about 15 nautical miles off the coast of Oman, and opened fire that caused “heavy damage” to the vessel’s bridge, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said in a statement. Another cargo ship reported being fired at 8 nautical miles off Iran, it said. The agency didn’t identify either vessel.
2.10 pm: Trump’s hint on China role
President Donald Trump indicated Tuesday that China was providing weapons or other potentially lethal war supplies to Iran.
The President said in an interview on CNBC that the US caught a boat with a “gift” from China, after talking about the US restocking its munitions, hinting—without explicitly saying—that the present was some form of lethal aid for Tehran.
“We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it, which wasn’t very nice — a gift from China, perhaps, I don’t know. I thought I had an understanding with President Xi, but that’s alright. That’s the way the war goes right?” Trump said.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun had said at a press briefing Tuesday that it rejects “any false association and speculation”.
The answer was in response to a question on the cargo ship seized by US forces in the Gulf waters, where the American military has imposed a blockade to stop Iranian trade. Reuters earlier reported that US forces found dual-use items from the seized ship.
Also Read: A perfect storm? High energy prices, the West Asia war, and India’s narrowing fiscal space
12.45 pm: Macron says Israel should renounce ‘territorial ambitions’ in Lebanon
French President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday said Israel must “renounce its territorial ambitions” in Lebanon and that Hezbollah should be disarmed “by the Lebanese”.
He made the remarks at a press conference following a meeting with Lebanese Premier Nawaf Salam in Paris. Macron said the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire “must be extended”.
According to Al Jazeera, the US has said talks between the two sides will take place Thursday.
A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah mediated by Washington has largely held since last week, but Israeli forces remain deployed in a belt of Lebanese land 5-10 km deep along the entire border. Israel has said it aims to create a buffer zone to shield northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah.
The Lebanon government has warned against Israel occupying parts of the country’s south, saying that Tel Aviv would face resistance if it does not withdraw its troops fully.
11.50 am: Tankers evading US blockade
At least two fully laden Iranian tankers have sailed out of the Persian Gulf and past a US blockade this week, part of a flotilla that has made its way around the warships and ferried roughly 9 million barrels of oil to the market.
The Hero II and Hedy, two Iran-flagged, very-large crude carriers, are the latest to be captured in satellite imagery, moving past the line identified by the US and into the Arabian Sea on 20 April, according to data intelligence firm Vortexa. The pair can together carry as much as 4 million barrels of oil.
The exit of laden tankers demonstrates the limits of US efforts to cordon off Tehran’s crude exports—which President Donald Trump has described as a “tremendous success” — and pressure an otherwise resilient Iranian regime into concessions.
The figures from Vortexa suggest that Iran’s exports have continued even in the face of US threats, with at least 34 Iran-linked tankers and gas carriers making their way through the strait and the US blockade line.
Source: Bloomberg
11.15 am: Iran enforces ‘maritime law’ on ship
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the country’s military had enforced “maritime law” on a container ship that had “ignored repeated warnings”.
The news agency posted the report on social media above an earlier post by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which had “received a report of an incident” on a container ship off Oman’s coast.
The UKMTO said “the master of a container ship reported that the vessel was approached by one IRGC gun boat” which “then fired upon the vessel” and “caused heavy damage to the bridge”.
“No fires or environmental impact reported. All Crew reported safe,” it said.
Iran Enforces Maritime Law on Container Ship Defying Warnings
Iranian armed forces opened fire on a container ship after it ignored repeated warnings, causing significant damage to the vessel, according to a report by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). pic.twitter.com/HJ3T8N7iZo
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) April 22, 2026
11.00 am: No clarity on negotiations yet
Peace talks in Islamabad seemed on the verge of falling apart.
US Vice President JD Vance, whose presence has been requested by the Iranians, had planned to return to Pakistan Tuesday, but the trip is on hold, pending Tehran’s status.
Tehran has said its negotiators would be willing to attend the second round of talks only if the US abandoned a policy of pressure and threats, and rejected negotiations aimed at surrender.
Iran’s foreign ministry told BBC that Tehran has still not decided whether it will attend the talks. Iran, an official said, had gone into the first round of Islamabad talks “with good faith and sense of seriousness, but you have a negotiating party that has shown its lack of seriousness, lack of good faith”.
10.00 am: Trump says Iran ‘collapsing financially’
The US President, in another Truth Social post, claimed: “Iran is collapsing financially!
They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately.”
Trump went on to write that Iran was “Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day”, and that the Iranian “Military and Police were complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!”.
Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately- Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!
(TS: 21 Apr 23:41 ET)… pic.twitter.com/Ci1iA3GHJT
— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) April 22, 2026
9.30 am: Military planners to draw up plan for reopening Hormuz
Military planners from more than 30 countries will hold two-day talks in London from Wednesday to advance a mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and draw up detailed plans, the UK government said. More than a dozen countries said last week they were willing to join an international mission, led by Britain and France, to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz when conditions permit.
Participants are expected to discuss military capabilities, command and control arrangements, and how forces could deploy to the region
The commitment came after some 50 countries from Europe, Asia and West Asia joined a video conference aimed at sending a signal to Washington after US President Donald Trump said he did not need allies’ help.
UK’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement the meeting on Wednesday would build on progress made at last week’s talks. “The task, today and tomorrow, is to translate the diplomatic consensus into a joint plan to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Strait and support a lasting ceasefire,” said UK defence minister John Healey.
Source: Reuters
9.15 am: A recap
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X that the US’s continuing naval blockade of Iranian ports will “constrain” Tehran’s maritime trade and “target the regime’s primary revenue lifelines”.
“The US Treasury will continue to apply maximum pressure through Economic Fury to systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds,” he added.
As @POTUS has made clear, the United States Navy will continue the blockade of Iranian ports. In a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in. Constraining Iran’s maritime trade directly targets the regime’s primary…
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 21, 2026
Iran state media reported that Tehran has written to the United Nations, calling for a “firm and unequivocal condemnation of this act of aggression and piracy”. It was referring to the seizure of an Iranian-flagged ship on 19 April.
On 19 April, near Iran’s coast in the Sea of Oman, U.S. military forces attacked and seized Iran’s commercial vessel Touska, taking its crew hostage. This constitutes a grave breach of international law, a clear violation of the ceasefire, and an act of aggression marked by the… pic.twitter.com/2PeUwQGop5
— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) April 21, 2026
9.00 am: Peace talks uncertain
Trump’s ceasefire extension came as tentatively scheduled peace talks in Islamabad seemed on the verge of falling apart.
Iran has condemned the US Navy intercepting and seizing two commercial Iranian ships at sea as part of its blockade, the second earlier on Tuesday, with its foreign ministry accusing the US of “piracy at sea and state terrorism”. The US, joined by multiple other countries, has condemned Iran for impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
A first session of talks 10 days ago produced no agreement, with much of the focus on Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Trump wants to take the uranium out of Iran in order to prevent the country from enriching it further to the point where it could develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says it has only a peaceful civilian nuclear programme and a sovereign right to continue that as a signatory of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty.
Separately, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for extending the ceasefire.
أصالة عن نفسي، وبالنيابة عن المشير سيد عاصم منير، أتوجه بخالص التقدير إلى فخامة الرئيس دونالد ترامب على استجابته لطلبنا تمديد وقف إطلاق النار، بما يتيح استمرارية المسار الدبلوماسي ويمنح الجهود الجارية الفرصة اللازمة لتحقيق تقدم ملموس.
— محمد شهباز شريف (@ShehbazAr) April 21, 2026
8.00 am: What Trump said on extending ceasefire
Trump said in a statement on social media the US had agreed to a request by Pakistani mediators “to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal… and discussions are concluded, one way or the other”. Pakistan’s leaders have hosted peace talks in Islamabad to end the war.
Trump said in his statement he was willing to extend the ceasefire because “the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so,” a reference to US-Israeli assassinations of some of the country’s leaders in the war’s first weeks, including the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been succeeded by his son.
A few hours before his announcement, Trump had told the CNBC news channel that he was not inclined to continue the temporary truce and the US military was “raring to go”.
Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said Iran had not asked for a ceasefire extension and repeated threats to break the US blockade by force. An adviser to Iran’s lead negotiator, the speaker of parliament Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, said Trump’s announcement carried little weight and may be a ploy.
Source: Reuters