‘Impossible’
to reopen strait of Hormuz amid ‘flagrant’ ceasefire breaches, Iran says
Iranian
forces seize two ships in critical waterway as Washington and Tehran maintain
separate blockades
Oliver
Holmes and agencies
Wed 22
Apr 2026 22.19 BST
Iranian
forces have seized two ships in the strait of Hormuz as the US and Iran doubled
down on imposing separate blockades of the shipping waterway.
The
standoff over the strait – through which about 20% of the world’s oil and
liquefied fossil gas passed through during peacetime – has raised doubts about
whether stalled peace negotiations will resume.
Mohammad
Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament and lead negotiator,
said late on Wednesday that reopening the strait of Hormuz would be
“impossible” while the US and Israel committed “flagrant” breaches of the
ceasefire, including the US naval blockade, “the hostage-taking of the world’s
economy” and “Zionist warmongering”.
He added
in a post on X that the US and Israel “did not achieve their goals through
military aggression, nor will they through bullying”.
Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said earlier that their naval forces
had stopped two ships attempting to cross the strait and brought them to shore.
Iran’s
semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the IRGC had accused the two ships – the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and
Liberia-flagged Epaminondas – of “attempting
to exit the strait of Hormuz covertly”.
The
Epaminondas is Greek-operated, and Greece’s foreign minister confirmed there
had been an attack against a Greek-owned cargo ship.
A
UK-based maritime security monitor reported attacks on ships in the waterway on
Wednesday, including an incident in which a vessel was approached by an Iranian
gunboat “that then fired upon the vessel which has caused heavy damage to the
bridge”.
The
seizures mark the first time Iran has taken control of ships since the
beginning of the war, which started on 28 February, and come after the US fired
on and seized an Iranian cargo vessel and boarded a Iranian oil tanker in the
Indian Ocean.
In the
latest in a series of about-turns, Donald Trump threatened violence on Tuesday
hours before announcing he was unilaterally extending a ceasefire.
On
Wednesday the White House press secretary said Trump was “satisfied” with the
naval blockade, and “understands Iran is in a very weak position”.
“The
cards are in President Trump’s hands right now,” Karoline Leavitt told
reporters, adding that the US was “completely strangling their economy through
this blockade, they’re losing $500m a day”.
The US
president has been unable to contain the global economic and diplomatic crisis
that erupted from the war, which has not resulted in the anti-US regime being
overthrown or ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Instead,
it led to Tehran’s forced closure of the strait of Hormuz, which has caused a
spiralling global economic crisis.
Facing
calls to reopen the waterway, Trump put pressure on Iran to end its blockade,
but failed and later decided to impose his own blockade, leading to more fuel
price hikes and threats of long-term inflation.
Countries
in Asia that are dependent on Gulf oil have been badly hit, with shortages of
fuel, fertiliser and other raw materials that pass through the strait. While
the west is better insulated, it is not immune.
Germany,
Europe’s largest economy, halved its 2026 growth forecast to 0.5% on Wednesday,
while Greece announced €500m (£434m) in extra aid for households and farmers.
The prime
minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said: “The nation’s economy is holding up and
doing better than expected. However, the stress of the supermarket, the
expenses of children, more expensive fuel and the care of the elderly remain.”
The head
of the UN maritime agency has appealed for help for thousands of seafarers
stranded in the Gulf by the strait of Hormuz closure. About 20,000 seafarers
and 2,000 ships have been stranded, according to the International Maritime
Organization (IMO).
Over the
weekend, Iran said it had received new proposals from Washington but also
suggested a wide gap remained between the sides. Pakistan has acted as
mediator, but a luxury hotel in Islamabad that was cleared out for more talks
remained empty on Wednesday. Iran never publicly accepted the invitation and
the US delegation led by the vice-president, JD Vance, never left Washington.
A
Pakistani official briefed on the preparations told Reuters: “We had prepared
everything. We were all prepared for the talks, the stage was set. If you ask
me honestly, it was a setback we were not expecting, because the Iranians never
refused, they were up to come and join and they still are.”
In his
first term as president, Trump withdrew from an agreement that limited Iran’s
nuclear enrichment programme. He disliked the pact, which had been signed by
Barack Obama, and was discouraged from diplomacy by Israel, Iran’s arch-enemy.
For
years, Israel had pushed the US to bomb Iran but no administration in
Washington agreed, seeing it as counterproductive and fearing the chaos that is
now playing out.
Adding to
the bloodshed and instability, Israel and the Iranian proxy group, Hezbollah,
have fought a second front in Lebanon.
Despite a
tenuous 10-day ceasefire that expires on Sunday, Israeli strikes killed five
people in Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanese state media said, including journalist
Amal Khalil.
Khalil
and photographer Zeinab Faraj were covering developments near the town of
al-Tayri in southern Lebanon when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of
them.
They ran
into a nearby house, which was then also targeted by an Israeli strike,
according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Rescuers
were able to retrieve Faraj, who had a head wound. When they returned to help
Khalil, a sound grenade blocked their access to the damaged building, a
Lebanese military official said. She was later found dead by civil defence, who
pulled her corpse from under the rubble.
In a
statement before Khalil’s death was confirmed, Israel’s military said it had
received reports that two journalists were injured as a result of its strikes,
and denied it was preventing rescue teams from reaching the area.
Hezbollah
said it carried out an attack on northern Israel in response to what it called
“flagrant” violations of the ceasefire.
At least
2,454 people have been killed in Lebanon in Israeli attacks since the start of
the war, according to Lebanese authorities.
The
Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, said preparations were under way for
negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on Thursday. The talks are significant
as the countries have not maintained diplomatic relations with each other.
For
decades, Israel has repeatedly bombed, invaded and occupied Lebanon, while the
Lebanese government has failed to contain Hezbollah, which has fired rockets at
Israel.
Reuters,
the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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