President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, initial U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan earlier this month failed to reach a peace deal. On Tuesday, Trump announced he was extending the ceasefire and continuing the blockade until Iran's proposal is submitted and discussions are concluded "one way or the other."
Latest Developments
Apr 23, 6:37 PM
'We hope' no firing during Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, Trump says
Moments after announcing an extended ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, President Donald Trump said "we hope" there's three weeks of "no firing" between the two countries.
"But they do have Hezbollah to think about, and we're going to be working with Lebanon to get things straightened out in that country," he said during surprise remarks from the Oval Office while flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
Trump also said he expects the president of Lebanon and the prime minister of Israel to come to the White House "over the next couple of weeks" while the ceasefire is in place, though he did not provide any specifics of such potential travel.
Trump expressed his hope that the Israel-Lebanon conflict will get "worked out simultaneously with what we're doing in Iran."
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart, Isabella Murray and Emily Chang
Apr 23, 5:44 PM
Trump says Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended by 3 weeks
Israel and Lebanon will extend their ceasefire by three weeks, President Donald Trump announced on social media.
"I look forward in the near future to hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun,” Trump wrote.
This comes after a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon took place at the White House on Thursday.
Exactly one week ago, Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
-ABC News' Emily Chang
Apr 23, 5:25 PM
Trump says he has no 'time pressure' on deal
President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he is not facing any "time pressure" to secure a deal with Iran.
When asked how long he was willing to wait, Trump responded, "Don't rush me."
"I don't want to rush myself, you know, because every story says, 'Oh, Trump is under time pressure.' I'm not. No, no," Trump said. "You know who’s under time pressure? They are. Because if they don't get their oil moving, their whole oil infrastructure is going to explode. You know what that means, because they have no place to store it."
As for how long Americans should expect to pay higher gas prices, Trump said, "For a little while."
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart and Emily Chang
Apr 23, 3:06 PM
Talks between Israel, Lebanon to be held at the White House
Direct peace talks between Israel and Lebanon at the ambassador level will now be held at the White House, according to a U.S. official.
"President Trump will greet both representatives upon their arrival," according to a U.S. official.
Apr 23, 3:04 PM
Israel waiting for 'green light' from US to resume the war with Iran, Katz says
Israel is waiting for the "green light" from the U.S. to resume the war with Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday, after meeting with Israeli military officials.
"Israel is prepared to renew the war against Iran," Katz said. "The IDF is prepared for defense and attack, and the targets are marked."
"Waiting for the green light from the U.S. -- first and foremost to complete the elimination of the Khamenei dynasty," Katz said.
Katz also threatened to target Iran's energy infrastructure along with its "national economic infrastructure."
"The attack this time will be different and deadly and will add devastating blows in the most painful places - following the enormous blows that the Iranian terrorist regime has suffered so far -- that will shake and collapse its foundations," Katz said.
Apr 23, 12:38 PM
CENTCOM says 33 ships have been turned around in blockade
U.S. Central Command said that 33 vessels have been turned back as part of its blockade on ships leaving from or heading to Iranian ports. Most of those ships have been oil tankers.
Apr 23, 10:08 AM
Trump says Iran having a 'hard time' figuring out who is in charge
President Donald Trump indicated Thursday morning that there is no centralized leader in Iran right now, claiming that the government has been fractured between moderates and hardliners as the U.S. indefinitely extends its ceasefire with the country.
“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!” Trump said in a social media post.
“The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY!” he added.
Trump’s post comes days after the U.S. extended its ceasefire indefinitely, citing divisions within the Iranian government that are hindering negotiations on a peace deal.
Trump also again claimed that the U.S. has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz even as Iranian attacks on merchant ships have continued this week and traffic through the region remains severely limited.
-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr
Apr 23, 9:10 AM
Trump says he ordered Navy to 'shoot,' 'kill' boats putting mines in strait
President Donald Trump said in a Thursday social media post that he ordered the Navy to "shoot and kill" any boats putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.
"I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump wrote.
"There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine 'sweepers' are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!" Trump added.
There are currently no U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz , but there are 17 U.S. Navy ships east of the strait in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. So far, all of the previous attacks on Iranian mine-laying ships have been from the air.
The president’s post comes a day after the Washington Post reported that a Pentagon assessment found that clearing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz could take as long as six months.
It is currently unclear if Iranian mine-laying operations remain underway in the Strait amid the ceasefire. The regime previously declared that it had mined a wide swath of the strait off of the coast of Oman.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Nicholas Kerr
Apr 23, 8:25 AM
Iranian oil passing through US blockade, maritime tracking groups say
Cargo tracking group Vortexa told ABC News it identified 34 sanctioned or Iranian-linked ships moving in and out of the Gulf of Oman through the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports which came into effect on April 13.
Fifteen of those were inbound toward Iran, while 19 were outbound away from Iran.
Of the observed outbound movements, six of the ships were confirmed to be laden with approximately 10.7 million barrels of Iranian crude oil.
However, after Vortexa shared its data and media outlets named three of those ships, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) publicly refuted that the three named ships had evaded the blockade.
CENTCOM said two of those ships -- the Hero II and Hedy -- had returned to an Iranian port, and that the third -- the Dorena -- was "under the escort of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after previously attempting to violate the blockade."
It was not immediately clear whether the M/T Majestic X, which the U.S. announced Thursday it had interdicted in the Indian Ocean for carrying oil from Iran, was also one of the ships tracked as having moved through the blockade.
Vortexa said that the blockade is having some effect but, "based on observed vessel activity, flows have continued, although in a more constrained and selective environment."
TankerTrackers.com, a maritime intelligence company that tracks crude oil shipments, told ABC News that they observed nine shipments of Iranian oil pass through the U.S. blockade between April 13 and 20, one of which has been sent back to Iran.
Of the nine shipments, eight were tankers belonging to Iran's National Iranian Tanker Company and one was independently-owned.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule and Chris Looft
Apr 23, 8:07 AM
US boards Iran-linked tanker in the Indian Ocean
The Pentagon said in a post to X on Thursday that U.S. forces interdicted and boarded the M/T Majestic X tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight, a vessel it said was "transporting oil from Iran" as part of Tehran's illicit oil fleet.
The seizure is the second this week in the Indian Ocean. "We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate," the Pentagon said.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez
