{"id":71608,"date":"2026-04-18T12:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T12:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/71608\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T12:47:16","slug":"iran-reimposes-restrictions-on-strait-of-hormuz-u-s-continues-blockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/71608\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, U.S. continues blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A Malta-flagged oil tanker arrives in Iraq\u2019s territorial waters near Basra on April 17 after passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran reimposed restrictions on Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and the U.S. continues its blockade.Mohammed Aty\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The dueling blockades in the Strait of Hormuz lurched into uncharted waters on Saturday as the United States pressed ahead with its campaign to choke off Iranian ports and Iran reversed an initial move to reopen the waterway.<\/p>\n

Confusion over the critical chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence a new deal was within reach.<\/p>\n

Two gunboats from Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the British military\u2019s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said on Saturday. It reported the tanker and crew as safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s ceasefire with Lebanon shows Trump\u2019s desire for way out of the wider war<\/a><\/p>\n

Iran announced earlier Saturday it was reimposing restrictions on the strait in response to a U.S. blockade on Iranian shipping and ports. Iran has prevented vessels from crossing throughout the seven-week-long war, except for ones it authorizes.<\/p>\n

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament\u2019s National Security Commission, said that the strait was \u201creturning to the status quo,\u201d which he had earlier described as ships requiring Iranian naval authorization and toll payment before transiting.<\/p>\n

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Hapag-Lloyd employees monitor the status of cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz on a screen, in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday.Ebrahim Noroozi\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The shift came a day after Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared the strait open while a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. An end to Israel\u2019s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week\u2019s ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that deal did not cover Lebanon.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump first appeared to take a similar position on reopening the strait before later saying the American blockade \u201cwill remain in full force\u201d regardless of what Iran does until a deal is reached, including about Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

Even as the U.S.-Iran ceasefire appeared to hold, the back-and-forth over the strait \u2014 through which roughly one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil typically passes \u2014 highlighted how easily it could unravel<\/p>\n

Control over the strait has proven to be one Iran\u2019s main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.<\/p>\n

A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

U.S. forces have sent 23 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, U.S. Central Command said on X.<\/p>\n

Pakistan announces progress toward new deal<\/p>\n

Despite the escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistani officials say the United States and Iran are still moving closer to a deal ahead of the April 22 ceasefire deadline.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. Speaking at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey, Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the ceasefire in Lebanon was a positive sign, noting that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been a key sticking point before talks in Islamabad ended \u201cvery close\u201d to an agreement last weekend.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir visited Tehran, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar\u2019s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Antalya, the military and Sharif\u2019s office said. Pakistan is expected to host a second round of talks between Iran and the U.S. early next week.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

People walk past a destroyed buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on April 18. Since the war began more than 2,290 have been killed in Lebanon.Marko Djurica\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Questions linger about Lebanon truce<\/p>\n

Even though mediators were optimistic, it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a truce it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Trump said in another post that Israel is \u201cprohibited\u201d by the U.S. from further strikes on Lebanon and that \u201cenough is enough\u201d in the Israel-Hezbollah war.<\/p>\n

The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defense.<\/p>\n

U.S. negotiators would do well to read some Iranian poetry. It matters, greatly<\/a><\/p>\n

Shortly before Trump\u2019s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon \u201cat the request of my friend President Trump,\u201d but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.<\/p>\n

He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90% of Hezbollah\u2019s missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces \u201chave not finished yet\u201d with the dismantling of the group.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Traffic is seen heading south on Saida Highway from Beirut to southern Lebanon, as people return to their villages on the second day of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Saturday.Ryan Murphy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.<\/p>\n

The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.<\/p>\n

The war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A Malta-flagged oil tanker arrives in Iraq\u2019s territorial waters near Basra on April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[950,936,951,158,928,952,949,927,942,943,939,929,926,147,948,703,941,934,963,930,931,394,37,937,938,674,953,345,958,959,961,956,960,954,957,932,945,946,81,944,955,935,947,462,940,933,82,962],"class_list":{"0":"post-71608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-israel","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}