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 | Live updates
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.
US Vice President JD Vance, whose presence has been requested by the Iranians, had planned to return to Pakistan on Tuesday.
Before Trump’s latest announcement, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran’s negotiators had been willing to attend another round of talks if the US abandoned a policy of pressure and threats, and rejected negotiations aimed at surrender.
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