Islamabad talks in limbo as Tehran says it’s going to retaliate after US marines seize an Iranian-flagged ship close to the Strait of Hormuz.
Revealed On 20 Apr 2026
Donald Trump introduced on Sunday {that a} second spherical of US-Iran talks is to be held in Pakistan on Monday – however Tehran has not confirmed participation, two days earlier than a ceasefire deal expires.
The seize by US Marines of an Iranian-flagged container ship close to the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday has additional clouded the Islamabad talks, as Tehran has pledged to retaliate.
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The assault got here hours after President Trump introduced he’s sending a group to Islamabad for talks, whereas as soon as once more threatening to knock out Iran’s energy crops and bridges if there isn’t any deal. The ceasefire, which ended greater than a month of conflict, expires on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, spoke on Sunday with Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, as he reaffirmed his authorities’s readiness to mediate the battle.
Here’s what we all know:
In Iran
- Iran’s high joint army command, Khatam al-Anbiya, accused the US of violating the ceasefire by taking pictures at an Iranian ship within the Gulf of Oman and vowed to retaliate.
- President Trump posted on Fact Social on Sunday that US Marines captured a vessel that attempted to get previous the American blockade on Iranian ports, including that US forces stopped the ship by blowing a gap in its engine room.
- Iran executed two males convicted of cooperating with Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and planning assaults contained in the nation, the judiciary’s information outlet Mizan reported on Sunday.
- French transport firm, CMA CGM, confirmed on Sunday that “warning photographs” had been fired at one of its ships within the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.
- Iran’s armed forces turned again two tankers making an attempt to transit the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday after issuing warnings. The semi-official Tasnim information company stated that was a results of the persevering with US maritime blockade on Iran.
- Worldwide flights from Mashhad airport in northeast Iran will resume on Monday, the civil aviation authority stated.
Conflict diplomacy
- Iranian state media reported that Tehran had rejected new peace talks, citing the continued blockade, threatening rhetoric, and Washington’s shifting positions and “extreme calls for.”
- Iranian state media reported on Sunday that Tehran was not planning to participate in talks with the USA, hours after Trump stated he was dispatching negotiators to Islamabad.
- The US president posted on Fact Social on Sunday that representatives are going to Islamabad “tomorrow night time” for Iran negotiations. “We’re providing a very reasonable and affordable deal, and I hope they take it as a result of, in the event that they don’t, the USA goes to knock out each single energy plant, and each single bridge, in Iran,” Trump wrote.
- Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif stated on Sunday that he spoke with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian in regards to the battle within the Gulf.
Sharif posted on X that he shared insights with Pezeshkian concerning his latest conversations with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye. - “I appreciated Iran’s engagement, together with its high-level delegation to Islamabad for the historic talks, and latest discussions with Area Marshal Syed Asim Munir in Tehran,” Sharif stated.
- Turkiye’s International Minister, Hakan Fidan, stated on Sunday he was “optimistic” {that a} two-week ceasefire between Iran and the USA, which expires on Wednesday, can be prolonged, permitting extra time for talks between the perimeters.
Vice President JD Vance led the US delegation for the primary spherical of talks in Islamabad. They ended with out a deal [Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AP Photo]
Within the US
- Trump stated on Sunday that the guided-missile destroyer, USS Spruance, fired on and seized the Iranian-flagged cargo ship, Touska, within the Gulf of Oman, and US Marines had been “seeing what’s on board!”
- The US president stated Iran has dedicated a “severe violation” of the ceasefire however nonetheless thinks he can get a peace deal, ABC Information reporter Jonathan Karl posted on X on Sunday. Trump added {that a} peace deal “will occur. A technique or one other”.
In Israel
- Argentine President Javier Milei, has reaffirmed his nation’s help for the marketing campaign in opposition to Iran, citing his authorities’s earlier resolution to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a “terrorist organisation”.
- Milei, who’s visiting Israel for the third time since taking workplace, declared on Sunday that the joint US-Israel conflict in opposition to Iran was the “proper factor to do”, as he signed on to the so-called Isaac Accords aimed toward deepening bilateral ties between Israel and Latin American nations.
In Lebanon
- The Israeli army on Monday warned residents in southern Lebanon to not transfer south of a specified line of villages or method areas close to the Litani River, saying its forces stay deployed within the space throughout a ceasefire attributable to what it described as continued Hezbollah exercise.
- The Israeli military additionally stated it had decided that a picture circulating on social media displaying a soldier in south Lebanon hitting a statue of Jesus Christ is genuine and depicts one in every of its troops.
- The viral photograph of the Israeli soldier hitting the Jesus statue with a sledgehammer has sparked outrage.
- French President Emmanuel Macron is because of meet Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris on Tuesday. The announcement follows the killing of a French peacekeeper in Lebanon in the course of the fragile 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
- Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz stated the army will use “full pressure” in Lebanon – even in the course of the ongoing ceasefire – ought to Israeli troops face any menace from Hezbollah.
- Lebanon’s army stated it has reopened a highway and bridge between Nabatieh and Khardali, which had been broken by Israeli strikes within the south.
Oil costs rise
- Oil costs surged on Monday following the re-escalation of hostilities within the Center East conflict Nevertheless, lingering hopes {that a} deal to finish the seven-week disaster continued to help equities, regardless of Tehran saying it was not planning to attend peace talks.
