Iran…Trump …Morning….4/18/2026…Part of the Strait of Hormuz Closed Again by Iran….Whose in Charge in Iran?

The new developments added to the confusion on Saturday over the status of transit through the strait, where Iran has choked global energy supplies by menacing passing ships during more than a month of war with the United States and Israel.

Just a day earlier, Iran’s foreign minister called the strait “completely open,” leading Mr. Trump to declare a breakthrough in the negotiations between the two countries on a permanent cease-fire.

Both countries immediately cooled that optimism, however. Iranian officials insisted ships still needed Iranian permission to cross. And Mr. Trump said the American naval blockade of Iran’s ports would continue until a deal was reached to end the war, prompting Iranian ire and vows to retaliate.

The president has often made overly optimistic claims about the war, which began in late February. Although Mr. Trump expressed confidence late Friday about the negotiations with Iran that he said would happen over the weekend, no new face-to-face talks were announced as of Saturday morning.

Mr. Trump also claimed in a phone interview with CBS that Iran had “agreed to everything.” But Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, quickly denied Iran had agreed to any of their adversaries’ core demands.

The announcement of the strait’s reopening had soothed energy prices on Friday, sending oil futures tumbling to around $90 a barrel. Oil markets are closed for the weekend.

Hopes for an end to the war were boosted by the 10-day cease-fire in Lebanon that went into effect on Friday. Thousands of displaced families made their way home, and there was heavy traffic again Saturday morning as people continued to head to Lebanon’s south.

Iran had demanded the truce with the United States extend to Lebanon as a condition for a broader deal. Mr. Trump and U.S. officials worked to make that happen, even as they denied they were trying to meet Iran’s conditions.

Here’s what else we are covering:

• Peacekeeper killed: A U.N. peacekeeper was killed in Lebanon on Saturday after a patrol came under attack from “nonstate actors,” the U.N. mission said. President Emmanuel Macron of France said Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group fighting with Israel in Lebanon, was probably responsible. The group did not immediately comment.

• Energy crisis: Even if the Strait of Hormuz opened fully, it would take weeks for substantial amounts of Persian Gulf oil and gas to reach buyers — and much longer before damage to energy infrastructure was repaired — meaning that high gas prices and shortages of products like jet fuel could persist. Read more ›

ISW…...Iran Update Special Report, April 17, 2026

1. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is the Iranian entity that has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the war, outlined specific conditions on April 17 for vessels to transit the strait that amount to Iran retaining control over maritime traffic through the strait. These conditions include: 1) only commercial vessels not “related to belligerent countries” may transit the strait, 2) vessels must transit the strait via Iran’s approved transit route through Iranian territorial waters, and 3) vessels must coordinate their passage through the strait with Iranian forces. These conditions indicate that the IRGC seeks to retain operational control over transit through the strait, likely to continue to use the strait as a point of leverage to try to extract concessions from the United States.
2. The IRGC harshly criticized Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi after Araghchi announced on X that the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open.” The IRGC’s criticism of Araghchi is reflective of broader divisions within the Iranian regime, which CTP-ISW has consistently reported on in recent weeks.
3. Commercially available maritime data shows that no Iranian-linked vessels approached the US blockade line on April 17, and US officials have stated that US forces will engage Iranian-linked vessels beyond this line. CENTCOM announced on April 17 that 19 vessels have complied with US direction to turn around and that zero vessels have successfully breached the blockade. Commercially available maritime data shows that some non-Iranian-linked vessels have approached the US blockade line to exit the strait. These ships do not fall under the US blockade and are able to freely transit in and out of the strait.
4. There continue to be significant gaps between the US and Iranian negotiating positions, and the status of the negotiations remains unclear. The two sides disagree on several core issues, according to US, Iranian, and other officials and sources on April 16 and 17.
5. Some Iranian regime officials seek a preliminary agreement to extend the ceasefire to continue negotiations for a more comprehensive agreement. CTP-ISW previously noted that Iran is exploiting the current ceasefire to reorganize and regenerate its ballistic missile force, and Iran would almost certainly continue to do so if the United States and Iran agreed to a preliminary agreement and extended the ceasefire….