{"id":895379,"date":"2026-04-15T09:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/895379\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T09:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:30:14","slug":"iran-us-war-latest-tehran-risks-row-with-trump-with-new-plan-to-bypass-strait-of-hormuz-blockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/895379\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-US war latest: Tehran risks row with Trump with new plan to bypass Strait of Hormuz blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>US to send thousands more troops into the Middle East – report<\/p>\n

The US is set to send thousands of more troops into the Middle East in coming days, according to a report in the Washington Post which cited US officials. <\/p>\n

The move comes as the Trump administration continues its attempts to ramp up pressure on Iran to make a deal. <\/p>\n

It is unclear exactly how many troops would be sent, and the move is yet to be confirmed publicly by any US officials. We\u2019re keeping an eye on this and will bring you any updates. <\/p>\n

Alex Croft15 April 2026 10:20<\/p>\n

<\/a>Can Pakistan bring US and Iran back to the negotiating table before ceasefire ends?<\/p>\n

Both the US and Iran could return to Islamabad as early as the end of this week, a source aware of the talks says, adding that the date was yet to be decided as the conflict continued to simmer. <\/a>The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region.<\/p>\n

Iran and the US came \u201cvery close\u201d to an agreement and were \u201c80 per cent there\u201d during last weekend’s meeting in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, held four days after the announcement of a ceasefire, sources say. It was the first direct encounter between US and Iranian officials in more than a decade, and the most senior engagement \u200bsince Iran’s 1979 Islamic \u200bRevolution.<\/p>\n

Alex Croft15 April 2026 09:59<\/p>\n

<\/a>Trump targets Pope Leo again in a new rant<\/p>\n

US president Donald Trump has escalated his war of words with Pope Leo XIV through his latest post on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

In a midnight post, Trump wrote: “Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable.<\/p>\n

“Thank you for your attention to this matter. AMERICA IS BACK!!!”<\/p>\n

Trump has been routinely targeting the Pope after he criticised the US president’s war on Iran. Pope Leo had earlier said that Trump\u2019s warning that an \u201centire civilization will die tonight,\u201d in reference to Iran, was \u201cunacceptable”.<\/p>\n

The pope has also suggested that a \u201cdelusion of omnipotence\u201d is fueling the war between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n

Since then, Trump has branded Pope Leo as “weak” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy, before uploading an AI-generated image of himself dressed as Jesus. The US president later deleted the image and claimed it depicted him as a “doctor” and not as Jesus.<\/p>\n

Alex Croft15 April 2026 09:43<\/p>\n

<\/a>Iran says it will use alternative ports to bypass US Strait of Hormuz blockade<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s semi-official news agency Mehr News is reporting that Tehran will begin to use alternative ports for its exports in order to bypass the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear exactly which ports this refers to – we\u2019re working to bring you that information. <\/p>\n

The US military has claimed it has \u201cmaritime superiority in the Middle East\u201d since the blockade began on Monday, in response to a collapse in US-Iran ceasefire talks over the weekend. <\/p>\n

The Strait of Hormuz is currently used for the overwhelming majority of Iran\u2019s export trade, in particular oil, it\u2019s most profitable export. <\/p>\n

The Caspian Sea, to Iran\u2019s north, accounts for under 5 per cent of Iran\u2019s exports, according to some estimates. It\u2019s possible that this could rise while the blockade is in place, but as it is a closed sea, trade opportunities are far more limited. <\/p>\n

Alex Croft15 April 2026 09:24<\/p>\n

<\/a>Watch: AOC says Trump is threatening to genocide Iran <\/p>\n

Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of Donald Trump\u2019s most outspoken critics, has accused the US president of threatening to carry out genocide on Iran. <\/p>\n

AOC says Trump is threatening to genocide Iran<\/p>\n

Alex Croft15 April 2026 09:03<\/p>\n

<\/a>Urgent task ahead is to avoid resumption of war, says China<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which has warned that the international community must urgently ensure the war in Iran is not resumed. <\/p>\n

The momentum of the hard-won ceasefire between Washington and Tehran must be maintained, it adds. <\/p>\n

Beijing said the war should never have happened particularly in light of the cost it has had for the international community – especially, it added, given the least developed countries have paid a high price. <\/p>\n

Alex Croft15 April 2026 08:55<\/p>\n

<\/a>You’re going to watch an amazing two days ahead, says Trump<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has predicted that there will be an \u201camazing two days ahead\u201d as he suggests the war in Iran is nearing its end. <\/p>\n

Speaking to ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, the US president said he did not think it would be necessary to extend a two-week ceasefire that ends on April 21, according to a post by Karl on X. <\/p>\n

“It could end either way, but I think a deal is preferable because then they can rebuild,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

“They really do have a different regime now. No matter what, we took out the radicals.”<\/p>\n

Alex Croft15 April 2026 08:25<\/p>\n

<\/a>Watch: Trump says Iran was is ‘very close to over’Trump says Iran was is ‘very close to over’<\/p>\n

Maira Butt15 April 2026 08:03<\/p>\n

<\/a>Hopes rise for renewed talks as US military says Iran blockade is in force<\/p>\n

Hopes rose for renewed talks between the United States and Iran<\/a> on Wednesday, as the US military said its blockade of Iranian ports was in full effect and Tehran<\/a> threatened to retaliate by strike targets across the war-weary region.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump<\/a> said Tuesday that a second round of talks could happen “over the next two days,” telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Islamabad<\/a> as diplomats worked through back channels to arrange them.<\/p>\n

UN secretary-general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres concurred, saying it\u2019s \u201chighly probable\u201d that talks will restart. He cited a meeting he had with Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister Ishaq Dar.<\/p>\n

Maira Butt15 April 2026 07:38<\/p>\n

<\/a>China rebuffs reports of providing military support to Iran<\/p>\n

China has refuted reports accusing Beijing of providing military support to Iran, calling it “purely fabricated”.<\/p>\n

“If the US goes ahead with tariff hikes on China on the basis of these accusations, China will respond with countermeasures,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said this morning.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times reported that Iran secretly \u200bacquired a Chinese spy satellite, which gave the Islamic Republic a new capability to target US military bases across the Middle East during the recent war.<\/p>\n

The TEE-01B satellite, built and launched by Chinese company Earth Eye Co, was acquired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\u2019 Aerospace Force in late 2024 after it was launched \u2060into space from China, the report \u200bsaid \u2060citing leaked Iranian military documents. <\/p>\n

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar15 April 2026 07:10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US to send thousands more troops into the Middle East – report The US is set to send…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-895379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116408026862011530","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}