Iran warns ships around Hormuz to stay anchored: Live

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.

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.

Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has branded the US blockade of Iran’s ports as ‘an ill-judged and misguided decision’.

He told the country’s state TV:

I had said that if they do not lift the blockade, transit through the Strait would certainly be restricted.

He also stated that the strategic passage was ‘under the control’ of Tehran.

Meanwhile, he said Iran ‘stood firm and confronted’ Washington when they wanted to carry out mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

He added:

We regarded this as a breach of the ceasefire and said that if they took such action, we would strike.”

Donald Trump convened an emergency situation room meeting with his inner circle on Saturday to discuss the precarious Strait of Hormuz situation, according to a report.

The president met with Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others, Axios reported, citing two US officials.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratliffe, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine also reportedly attended.

The meeting comes amid reports that US soldiers are preparing to storm Iran-backed ships ‘in a matter of days,’ US officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The Iranian military declared the Strait of Hormuz closed again today, prompting ships to abandon attempts to transit

On Friday, Tehran had declared the strait open after a ceasefire was agreed in Israel’s war with Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This prompted elation in global markets and sent oil prices plunging, but with Trump insisting that a US naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a deal to end the wider war was concluded, Tehran said it was shuttering the strait once more late on Saturday morning.

Iran’s central military command said that, in response to the US blockade, Hormuz was again ‘under strict management and control of the armed forces’.

The Revolutionary Guards warned that any effort to cross ‘will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted’.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy tonight warned that ‘no vessel should make any movement from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered as cooperation with the enemy’ and will be targeted.

‘We warn that no ship, of any kind, should leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Any attempt to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted,’ the navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on its official Sepah News website.

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon on Friday, the day after the start of a US-brokered ceasefire.

It said two other soldiers were injured in the incident, but didn’t release any more details.

This brings to 14 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the latest war in Lebanon.

Naim Kassem, head of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, in a statement read on the group’s al-Manar TV, said a paper published by the US State Department that it described as the text of a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel ‘means nothing at the practical level, but it is an insult to our country.’

‘Everyone knows that the government of Lebanon has not met or approved this statement,’ he said.

The text published by the U.S described the 10-day truce as a gesture by Israel ‘to enable good-faith negotiations’ toward a permanent peace agreement with Lebanon.

The text gives Israel the ‘right to take all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.’ It does not mention any similar right for Lebanon or Hezbollah.

Residents drive home following a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Nabatieh, Lebanon, April 18, 2026

A resident smokes a cigarette as he sits beside his damaged shop following a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Nabatieh, Lebanon, April 18, 2026

Zahra Eid, 60, who was displaced in Byblos district, reacts while inspecting her house destroyed by Israeli strikes, after returning to her village, following the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tayr Debba, south Lebanon, April 18, 2026

A woman surveys the damage of her home that was destroyed by an Israeli air-strike that killed 7 of her neighbors in Nabatieh on the second day of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, on April 18, 2026 in Nabatieh, Lebanon

Tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese have started returning to their homes after being forced to flee due to Israeli strikes, following the implementation of a 10-day temporary ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in April 18, 2026

Excavators remove rubble from buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes on Thursday as rescuers search for victims in the city of Tyre, southern Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026

Haya Dahnoun, 14, who said she survived an Israeli strike that forced her to flee with her parents to Beirut, stands at the window as she recounts the day they were hit after returning home following a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Nabatieh, Lebanon, April 18, 2026

A displaced resident looks out at destruction caused by Israeli strikes as she drives home following a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel that went into effect, in Nabatieh, Lebanon, April 18, 2026

• The Israeli military said its air force had eliminated a ‘terrorist cell’ operating near its troops in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire there. ‘The IDF eliminated a terrorist cell operating in proximity to IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon, in the area of the forward defence line dedicated to preventing imminent threats to Israel’s northern communities,’ it said, without specifying how many suspected militants were killed.
• Two of the three French peacekeepers injured in an attack in Lebanon that also killed a French soldier are in serious condition, the French foreign ministry said.
• Hezbollah denied it was involved in a deadly attack on United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon, after France accused the group of being behind the incident. ‘Hezbollah denies any connection to the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh-Bint Jbeil area, and calls for caution in making judgements and assigning responsibilities regarding the incident pending the Lebanese army’s investigations to determine the full circumstances of the incident,’ the group said in a statement.
• Iran’s top national security body said that the country was reviewing ‘new proposals’ received from the United States, even as it warned that its negotiators would cut no compromises with Washington. ‘New proposals have been put forward by the Americans, which the Islamic Republic of Iran is currently reviewing and has not yet responded to,’ the Supreme National Security Council said in a statement.
• US President Donald Trump warned Iran not to ‘blackmail’ Washington with the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran declared the strategic waterway once again closed. ‘We’re talking to them. They wanted to close up the Strait again – you know, as they’ve been doing for years – and they can’t blackmail us,’ Trump said at a White House event.
• No date has been set for the next round of Iran-US peace talks brokered by Pakistan following the failure of an initial round, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said.
• Iranian gunboats fired on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a British maritime security agency reported. The tanker’s captain reported being approached 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman by two gunboats of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), which without any radio warning, then fired upon the tanker’, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre said in an online statement.

Tankers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, Saturday, April 18, 2026.

Israel’s military said it had established a ‘Yellow Line’ demarcation in southern Lebanon, similar to one separating its forces from Hamas-held areas in Gaza, adding it had hit a ‘terrorist cell’ operating near its troops along the line.

‘Over the past 24 hours, IDF forces operating south of the Yellow Line in southern Lebanon identified terrorists who violated the ceasefire understandings and approached the forces from north of the Yellow Line in a manner that posed an immediate threat,’ it said, referring to such a line for the first time since a ceasefire came into effect.

‘In order to eliminate the threat… forces attacked the terrorists in several areas,’ it said, noting that the military was authorised to act against threats.

‘Actions taken in self-defence and to remove immediate threats are not restricted by the ceasefire,’ it said.