Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Apr 20, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: Tehran Sends Mixed Signals on Talks After U.S. Seizes Ship
An Iranian official vowed retaliation for the U.S. attack on an Iran-flagged vessel near the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran’s president said the war “benefits no one,” as an American delegation prepared for more peace talks.
by Tyler PagerSanam MahooziVivian Nereim and Aaron Boxerman
Here’s the latest
Iran on Monday sharpened its threats to retaliate for the United States’ seizure of an Iranian cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz, adding to pressure on the fragile cease-fire set to expire this week.
Iranian officials have sent mixed messages about potential peace talks with the United States. President Trump said that American negotiators were heading to Pakistan for the meeting, and a White House official said that Vice President JD Vance was expected to lead the delegation. It was unclear whether Iran would send representatives.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Monday that there were “no plans” at the moment for further talks. But Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, said that while Iran must stand firm “against injustice and excessive demands,” continuing the war “benefits no one.”
The conflicting signals echoed those Iran sent before the first round of talks, last weekend, which ended without an agreement to end the war. Iran had cast doubt on the negotiations even taking place, but its delegation arrived just hours later.
The two-week truce, which went into effect April 8, was being tested in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas that Tehran has blocked, prompting the United States to blockade Iranian ports. A U.S. Navy destroyer fired on an Iranian cargo ship on Sunday after it defied that blockade, Mr. Trump said. Iran’s armed forces called it “piracy,” warning that they would soon retaliate, according to Tasnim, a semiofficial Iranian news agency.
Here’s what else we are covering:
Pakistan: Pakistan was preparing to host new U.S.-Iran peace talks, despite the uncertainty about Iran’s attendance. Officials said they would deploy 10,000 extra security personnel in Islamabad, the capital.
Energy prices: The U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright, acknowledged on Sunday that gasoline prices in the United States could remain elevated for months, undermining an earlier claim by Mr. Trump. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, climbed more than 6 percent on Monday, to around $96 a barrel after the attack. Oil prices are up by about 33 percent since the war began on Feb. 28.
Lebanon: Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president, said he had appointed Simon Karam, a former ambassador to the United States, to lead talks aimed at ending war with Israel and achieving a complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Israel wants the disarmament of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group.
April 20, 2026, 10:56 a.m. ET8 minutes ago
Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Edward Wong
Vice President Vance is now expected to leave Washington for Pakistan on Tuesday, his second trip there for talks with Iran, according to two U.S. officials. President Trump has issued a number of conflicting statements about the talks, including telling the New York Post on Monday morning that the vice president had already left for the negotiations. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
April 20, 2026, 8:38 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from London
Tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is at a standstill again
Only three ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday as traffic in the crucial waterway slowed to a near halt, according to data from Kpler, a firm that tracks maritime traffic.
On Saturday, 24 ships crossed the strait after Iran had declared the passage open to commercial vessels at the start of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon. But within 24 hours, Iran reversed course and said it had returned the strait “to its previous state.”
Only one made it through on Sunday, according to Kpler figures, which refer to ships carrying crude oil and chemicals, but not cruise ships or container ships. Kpler uses satellites and transponders to track the movement of ships.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which is administered by Britain’s Royal Navy, said that two vessels had been hit, according to a notice published on Saturday. In one instance, gun ships operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fired at a tanker without radio warning, the British organization said. In the second incident, a container ship was hit by “an unknown projectile” that damaged some of the containers. Those ships, and several others, then reversed course.
At least 20 vessels have been attacked in recent weeks, according to the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency.
And most shipping companies said the situation was too precarious to try to navigate ships through the strait. The average number of vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz before the war was more than 120 per day.
On Monday, the three ships that crossed the strait were the Nova Crest, which sailed under a Barbadian flag, the Starway (Liberia) and the Axon 1 (Gambia), according to Kpler.
A two-week cease-fire between the United States and Iran, which is scheduled to expire on Wednesday in the Gulf, remained precarious on Monday. A U.S. Navy destroyer fired on an Iran-flagged vessel that was trying to evade a blockade on Sunday. President Trump said a U.S. delegation would head to Pakistan for more peace talks, but the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said there were “no plans” in place for the next round of peace talks there.
April 20, 2026, 8:23 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained mostly at a standstill on Monday, with just three vessels crossing the vital waterway, according to Kpler, a maritime data firm. Around two dozen ships were reported to have crossed on Saturday after Iran declared that the strait was open to commercial shipping. But traffic once again slowed to a trickle after Iran reversed course and said it would exert “strict control” over the strait in response to the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
April 20, 2026, 8:21 a.m. ET3 hours ago
The State Department issued a stark warning to U.S. citizens and associates in Iraq, saying that “Iraq’s Iran-aligned terrorist militias continue planning additional attacks against U.S. citizens and U.S.-associated targets throughout Iraq, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.” It added that missiles, drones and projectiles fired by militias pose a potential threat to commercial airplanes and it warned people against approaching the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and consulates elsewhere because of the continuing threats around those buildings. The department’s warning level for Iraq remains four — “do not travel.” The department said all routine consular services at missions in Iraq remain suspended.
April 20, 2026, 7:20 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Sanam Mahoozi
President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran said Monday that while Iran must stand firm “against injustice and excessive demands,” the continuation of the war “benefits no one.”
“The more issues can be managed through reason and in a calm environment, the more it will benefit everyone,” he said in a statement posted on social media.
April 20, 2026, 6:52 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Reham Mourshed and Aaron Boxerman
Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president, said on Monday that he had appointed Simon Karam, a former ambassador to the United States, to lead bilateral talks with Israel. Writing on social media, he said the negotiations would aim to end the war and achieve a complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Israel has its own demands, which include the disarming of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group. Aoun’s call for direct talks with Israel drew criticism from Hezbollah, which he has rebuffed. “I have chosen the path of negotiation, and I am hopeful that we can save Lebanon,” Aoun said.
April 20, 2026, 6:37 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Foreign airlines are permitted to gradually resume operations in Qatar, the country’s civil aviation authority said on Monday, adding that the decision followed “a comprehensive assessment of the situation.” Many flights to and from Qatar, a global aviation hub, have been disrupted since the beginning of the war.
April 20, 2026, 5:36 a.m. ET5 hours ago
Sanam Mahoozi
A spokesman for Iran’s military reiterated a threat on Monday to “take the necessary action against the U.S. military” after American forces attacked an Iranian cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s state broadcaster reported. Iran has waited to take action so far in order to protect the ship’s crew and some of their family members, he said, but will act “once it is ensured that the lives of the families and crew of the vessel attacked by the United States are safeguarded.”
April 20, 2026, 5:04 a.m. ET6 hours ago
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent and reported from Washington. He traveled with Mr. Vance to Islamabad, Pakistan, for the first round of peace talks with Iran.
As Vance heads to Pakistan for more peace talks, his standing is also at stake
JD Vance will try again.
The vice president is scheduled to lead an American delegation back to Islamabad, Pakistan, this week for another round of in-person negotiations with Iran after failing to secure a deal just over a week ago.
Whether the talks even occur seems in dispute. Hours after President Trump announced the trip on Sunday, Iranian state media said that Tehran had not yet agreed to any such meeting. Later, Mr. Trump announced that a Naval destroyer had attacked an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to skirt the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
The conditions for a new round of diplomacy were, at best, imperfect, and the stakes for a second failure high, both for ending a war that neither side seems to want to prolong and for Mr. Vance himself.
As a two-week cease-fire nears an end, and as Mr. Vance prepared for another long journey to Pakistan, Mr. Trump again threatened maximalist consequences if Iran failed to agree to his terms.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” the president wrote on social media on Sunday. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
While Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, will also be at the talks, Mr. Vance is center stage, tasked with finding a way out of a war that is increasingly unpopular with Americans and that has continued to weaken the global economy and the vastly complex energy supply chain. It is also a conflict that Mr. Vance told Mr. Trump, during deliberations on whether to attack, could be seen as a betrayal to loyal voters who did not want more wars. He has nonetheless defended it publicly.
Mr. Vance spent 21 hours in Pakistan last weekend negotiating with the Iranians, only to walk away with no deal. Allies and adversaries alike say that if he is unable to make any progress this time, it will be the latest political setback, as the world watches, for a man who wants to succeed Mr. Trump.
The vice president traveled to Hungary earlier this month to campaign with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a hero to the U.S. right wing who went on to lose re-election. Mr. Vance, who announced last month that he was writing a book about his conversion to Catholicism, also found himself defending Mr. Trump in a row with Pope Leo XIV, and took much grief online for suggesting that the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics should be more “careful” when discussing theology.
Mr. Trump appears to have further complicated the negotiations and, thus, Mr. Vance’s task. The president spent much of the weekend proclaiming that Iran had agreed to all of his demands and expressing optimism that a deal was close.
Iranian leaders have denied his claims. But still, for Iran, reaching a deal with Washington could also be crucial to easing pressure on an economy already in crisis before the war — and the spark that set off nationwide protests earlier this year.
A deal could also potentially unlock billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen by Washington or at least partially lift punishing sanctions that isolated Iran from the global economy. Such a boost would be critical for Iran to repair this war’s destruction, not just on its military sites, but also on major factories, universities and infrastructure.
On April 12, when Mr. Vance abruptly left Islamabad after a marathon session of negotiations, he said the United States had made its “final and best offer.” U.S. officials say that despite the public bluster, the two sides have made strides toward a deal since that apparent ultimatum.
How far they can get in any new talks remains unclear, given the deeply sensitive unresolved issues, including the specifics of nuclear enrichment. U.S. officials said the Trump administration wanted a ban on nuclear enrichment for 20 years. Iran had countered with five years.
The status of the Strait of Hormuz also remains in dispute.
Iran imposed a blockade on the channel itself, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil normally travels, and the United States countered by blocking traffic to Iranian ports. On Saturday, Iran attacked two Indian vessels attempting a transit, acts that Mr. Trump described earlier on Sunday as a “total violation of our cease-fire.”
Nonetheless, Pakistan appeared to be readying for a fresh round of talks, an indication that the negotiations were likely to go forward even as the two sides sent conflicting public messages. Islamabad, the capital, went on a security lockdown on Sunday night, and officials said they would deploy 10,000 extra security forces in the city.
Erika Solomon contributed reporting.
Show less
April 20, 2026, 5:01 a.m. ET6 hours ago
Sanam Mahoozi
Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said Monday that a transfer of Iran’s uranium had not been discussed in negotiations with the United States, according to Iran’s state broadcaster. President Trump said Thursday that Iran had agreed to hand over its “nuclear dust” as part of any peace deal.
April 20, 2026, 4:34 a.m. ET7 hours ago
Sanam Mahoozi
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said that there are “no plans” in place for the next round of peace talks in Pakistan — an apparent denial of President Trump’s statement that U.S. negotiators would arrive in Islamabad on Monday for a second round of negotiations. The spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said during a weekly news conference on Monday, that no decision has been made, and accused the U.S. of engaging in actions that in no way “demonstrate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process,” state media reported.
April 20, 2026, 4:21 a.m. ET7 hours ago
Reporting from Islamabad
Iranian officials have not confirmed their participation in a second round of talks, but U.S. and Pakistani officials are still moving ahead with preparations for negotiations they say will take place later this week in Islamabad. The Serena Hotel, which hosted the first round, has been cleared once again, and with dozens of checkpoints across the city, officials appear focused on “when,” not “if.”
April 20, 2026, 3:27 a.m. ET8 hours ago
Tensions remained high four days into the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Israeli military said it had struck a loaded rocket launcher outside the zone it occupies in southern Lebanon, calling it an imminent threat. Hezbollah said an Israeli convoy on Sunday triggered explosives that its militants had previously planted in the region.
Israel has said it will continue carrying out what it describes as defensive strikes during the truce and demolishing buildings in the zone it has invaded.