Iran’s Military Says It Has Reimposed ‘Strict Control’ of Strait of Hormuz

 

Iran War Live Updates: Iran’s Military Says It Has Reimposed ‘Strict Control’ of Strait of Hormuz

The military said it would tighten its grip on the waterway until the U.S. ended its blockade of Iranian ports. A shipping monitor said two ships were hit, one by fire from a gunship and one by an unknown projectile.

 

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Updated

April 18, 2026, 12:34 p.m. ET4 minutes ago

Aaron Boxerman Lynsey Chutel and Euan Ward

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/18/world/iran-us-war-trump-hormuz

 

Here’s the latest.

Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz again on Saturday, asserting that it was “under strict control” by Iranian forces — just hours after Iranian officials and President Trump had raised hopes for an end to the war by announcing that the waterway had reopened.

 

Iran’s military said in a statement that the strait had now “returned to its previous state” unless the United States ended its own blockade of Iranian ports. A shipping monitor run by the British navy said Saturday that it had received reports that two ships had been hit in the strait. One came under  fire. Another was hit by an “unknown projectile,” the monitor said.

 

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

 

Just a day earlier, Iran’s foreign minister said the strait was “completely open,” leading Mr. Trump to declare a breakthrough in the negotiations between the two countries over how to end the war.

 

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

 

Mr. Trump told reporters on Saturday that Iran had tried to “close up the strait again,” but he expressed optimism about the prospect for a truce. “It’s going actually along very well,” he added.

 

The Secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement the government “is currently reviewing” new proposals submitted by the United States through Pakistan, which hosted peace talks last weekend.

 

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

 

Hopes for an end to the war were boosted by a 10-day cease-fire in Lebanon that went into effect Friday. Thousands of displaced families began making their way back home, and there was heavy traffic again Saturday 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.

 

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. Hezbollah denied involvement. Read more ›

 

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.