Iran closes Strait of Hormuz less than a day after reopening it: live

The Strait of Hormuz has again been closed to international shipping, Iran has said.

State broadcaster IRIB confirmed in the last few minutes the shipping route, which sees 20 per cent of global oil and gas pass through it each year, is ‘closed’ and any passage requires approval from Tehran.

Iran had earlier allowed a convoy of ships to pass for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict.

But after it became clear the US was continuing a blockade against Iranian ships, Tehran has once again implemented the closure, a spokesperson said.

For this reason, control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state, and this strategic strait is under the strict management and control of the armed forces.

As long as the United States does not end the complete freedom of passage of vessels from Iran to destination and from destination to Iran, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain under strict control and in its previous state.

President Donald Trump has asked if Americans are ‘sick of winning’ after the US declared ‘victory’ over Iran.

Sharing a clip of himself at a rally, in which he spoke about winning, he wrote: ‘ANYONE SICK OF WINNING YET?’

Earlier, he had described the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as a ‘great victory’ in a phone call with USA Today and declared the dispute over the shipping lane to be ‘over’.

Overnight Trump shared a series of posts about the strait in which he claimed China’s President Xi was also ‘very happy’ about the development.

Iran’s supreme leader has warned his navy is ready to ‘inflict bitter defeats’ on the country’s enemies, as fresh gunfire was reported in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a lengthy post on Telegram on Saturday, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised the nation’s army and navy and accused the US and Israel of ‘arrogance’.

Khamenei has not been seen since the outbreak of the conflict on February 28, with rumours he was gravely injured in an airstrike by the US and Israel.

His statement read:

The Islamic Army is now courageously defending the land, water, and flag that belong to it, just as it did in the previous two imposed wars.

With its strong support from God and the people, in compact, solid ranks, and standing side by side with their comrades from the other armed forces, it’s battling the two leading armies of unbelief and Arrogance.

And the Islamic Army has exposed those armies’ weakness and abjectness to the world.

In the same way that its drones strike the US and the Zionist murderers like lightning, its valiant navy is also ready to inflict new bitter defeats on its enemies.

Gunfire has been reported after at least two ships tried to navigate through the Strait of Hormuz.

Maritime sources suggested that the vessels had received fire after trying to cross the strait after Iran’s earlier announcement it had again closed it to traffic.

It is believed that one of the affected vessels may be an Indian oil tanker, although this has not been independently confirmed.

The UKMTO said it had received a report of a tanker being approached by two IRGC gun boats, around 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman.

These boats are said to have fired on the tanker. All crew are safe and accounted for, the agency added.

Pakistan’s powerful military chief and prime minister on Saturday concluded separate visits aimed at ending the Iran war, with Field Marshal Asim Munir leaving Tehran and premier Shehbaz Sharif (pictured) headed home from Turkey.

Munir met Iran’s top leadership and peace negotiators during a three-day visit to Tehran, a Pakistani military statement said.

The visit showed Pakistan’s ‘unwavering resolve to facilitate a negotiated settlement… and to promote peace, stability, and prosperity’, the military said ahead of expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad in the coming days.

Munir held talks with the country’s president, foreign minister, parliament speaker and the head of Iran’s military central command centre.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi led the Iranian delegation to Islamabad for peace talks with the United States last week, the highest level face-to-face contact between the two countries in decades.

Those talks ended without an agreement, but diplomacy continued thereafter, with Pakistan’s prime minister undertaking a three-country tour to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to push the peace process.

That visit also concluded on Saturday, with Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar departing a diplomacy forum in Antalya, according to statements from both officials.

A second round of talks between the United States and Iran is expected in Islamabad this coming week.

Mediators in the conflict between the US and Iran are working ‘very hard’ to find a final peace agreement, it was said today.

It is hoped a deal could be reached ‘in the coming days’.

Egypt’s foreign minister said Egypt and Pakistan are working ‘very hard’ as mediators to bring about ‘a final agreement between the United States and Iran’, as he attended an Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey.

‘We hope to do so (reach an agreement) in the coming days,’ Badr Abdelatty said, noting that ‘not only us in the region, but the whole world is suffering from the continuation of this war’.

‘We are pushing very hard in order to move forward,’ he said.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has issued a month-long sanctions waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products that are at sea, extending an earlier move to soften surging energy prices.

The license, issued by the Treasury Department, comes two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington would not renew the waiver.

The latest move allows for the purchase of oil and petroleum products that have been loaded onto any vessel as of Friday, until 12:01am (0401 GMT) on May 16.

It prolongs an earlier easing of sanctions that expired on April 11.

The measure is aimed to ease global supply shocks from the US-Israeli war against Iran.

UN peacekeepers are patrolling the streets of Lebanon after a ten-day ceasefire agreement was reached on Thursday.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has led to the deaths of almost 2,300 people and has displaced more than one million.

Earlier, Iran indicated that its agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was directly tied to the ceasefire agreement.

Regardless, that now appears to have been blown out of the water after Tehran announced the resumption of ‘strict controls’ in the shipping lane.

The head of Iran’s National Security Committee has gloated about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, telling the US: ‘We warned you!’

Ibrahim Azizi took to social media in the last few moments, writing:

We warned you, but you didn’t pay attention! Now enjoy the return of the Strait of Hormuz situation to its previous state.

Iran says it has shut the Strait of Hormuz once more after the US refused to lift what Tehran describes as a naval blockade of its ports, as Donald Trump warned he could ‘start dropping bombs again’ if the fragile ceasefire breaks down.

The dramatic move comes just hours after Iran declared the key waterway ‘completely open’ and a convoy of eight oil tankers passed through the Strait, according to vessel tracking data.

Speaking as the truce edges towards expiry next week, Trump said he is still weighing whether to extend it, warning military action remains on the table if talks fail.

‘I think it’s gonna happen,’ he said of the ceasefire, while also suggesting the US could resume strikes.

Tehran had earlier warned it could shut the Strait again if Washington continues what it calls a blockade of Iranian ports, raising fresh fears over the vital global trade route.

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The US and Iran have claimed contradictory stances on the key sticking point in talks to achieve a long-lasting peace deal – Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Differences remain over the issue, with Iran defending its right to what it says is a civilian nuclear energy program.

Yesterday, President Trump said that Iran has agreed to the removal of its stockpiles of enriched uranium.

But Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told state TV the material would not be transferred anywhere.

Speaking on Air Force One overnight, President Trump told reporters:

We’re negotiating over the weekend. I expect things to go well. Many of these things have been negotiated and agreed to.

The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and that supersedes everything else.

Iran’s military has claimed that the Strait of Hormuz has ‘returned to its previous state’ of ‘strict control’ due to the US continuing to turn around ships leaving its ports.

In a statement, a spokesperson said:

The Islamic Republic of Iran, following previous agreements in negotiations, has agreed in good faith to the managed passage of a limited number of oil tankers and commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Unfortunately, the Americans… continue… the so-called blockade.

For this reason, control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state, and this strategic strait is under the strict management and control of the armed forces.

As long as the United States does not end the complete freedom of passage of vessels from Iran to destination and from destination to Iran, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain under strict control and in its previous state.

It is not immediately clear if this means the strait is now closed to all traffic.