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Lawrence: It was another day of nothing happening in Trump’s failed attempts to negotiate with Iran /

Panama’s Foreign Ministry said that Iran’s seizure of Panamanian-flagged MSC Francesca and other actions in the Strait of Hormuz “represent a grave attack against maritime security.”

The MSC Francesca, which is Italian-owned, and the ship Epaminondas were seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps today.

“Those types of actions increase the tensions in the Gulf and are contrary to international law,” Panama’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Moreover,” it said, “they represent a grave attack against maritime security and constitute and unnecessary escalation at times when the international community advocates for the Strait of Hormuz to remain open to international navigation without threats or blackmail of any type.”

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Iran attacked and seized commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz just hours after President Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran.

U.S. Central Command said today that the number of ships it has turned around in its naval blockade of Iranian ports has risen to 31.

Most of those vessels have been oil tankers, CENTCOM said on X tonight.

The U.S. has vowed that no ships would be allowed into or out of Iran’s ports as part of the naval blockade, intended to put pressure on Tehran.

Iranian officials have said that they consider the blockade to be a violation of the cease-fire with the U.S. and today attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

A journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon today, Lebanese government officials said.

The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper says its reporter Amal Khalil was killed, the Associated Press reported.

Israel’s military acknowledged the strike and said that they were aware of reports that two journalists had been injured but said that it does not deliberately target journalists.

“IDF troops identified two vehicles in southern Lebanon that had departed from a military structure used by Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement. “The individuals in the vehicles crossed the Forward Defense Line and approached the troops in a manner that posed an immediate threat to their safety.”

The Israeli Air Force struck one vehicle, and “subsequently, the structure from which the individuals had fled was also struck,” the IDF said.

Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said in a post on X that Khalil was targeted by Israeli forces while reporting in Al-Tayri, which is in southern Lebanon.

The president of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, said today that the national team is planning on attending the World Cup this summer but that the final decision must be made by the country’s leaders.

“The reality is that we are preparing for the World Cup. We are making preparations. Even today we were in training camp and our players are currently in camp,” Taj said, according to a video published by the semi-official Mehr news agency. “But ultimately, you know we are part of the establishment. Whatever decision the state makes, we will comply with that.”

The Senate tonight rejected a war powers resolution related to the war in Iran, voting 46-51 to decline to bring the measure to the floor.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was the only Democrat to vote against it, while Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote for it. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and Mark Warner, D-Va., did not vote.

The result was expected and came after about an hour of debate on the Senate floor.

The resolution would “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.”

This is the fifth resolution introduced by Democrats to rein in Trump’s actions in Iran without congressional approval. Democrats have said they will continue bringing war powers resolutions to the floor until Republicans agree to hold public hearings on Iran.

Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving the administration and being replaced by Undersecretary Hung Cao, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a post on X.

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Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images file

“Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately,” Parnell wrote. “On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Parnell added, “Undersecretary Hung Cao will become Acting Secretary of the Navy.”

In an interview with Fox News today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports has been “massively effective” and “inflicting maximum leverage and economic pressure” on Iran.

When asked whether Trump views Iran seizing two ships in the Strait of Hormuz as a violation of the ceasefire, Leavitt said: “No, because these were not U.S. ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels.”

Leavitt also noted that it was very important to Trump to get Iran’s enriched uranium out of the country.

“They must turn over the enriched uranium that’s in their possession. While it is very far into the ground, thanks to the success of Operation Midnight Hammer, it’s important to the president that they hand that enriched uranium over,” she said. “He’s made that quite clear to them.”

Operation Midnight Hammer is the name of the U.S. military operation that targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities last June.

Leavitt said the Trump administration is “waiting to hear back from the Iranian regime” on the state of negotiations to end the conflict.

Trump said in an interview with Fox News today that there is “no time pressure” in dealing with the ceasefire or talks with Iran and that there is “no time frame” on when the war might end.

“People say I want to get it over because of the midterms, not true,” Trump said in the interview.

Trump also noted that the current U.S. military blockade of Iran’s ports has scared the country’s leaders.

“The blockade scares them even more than the bombing,” Trump said in the interview. “They’ve been bombed for years but the blockade they hate.”

U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces have directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of the blockade against Iran. 

“The U.S. military has global reach. American forces are operating and enforcing the blockade across the Middle East and beyond,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.

CENTCOM also denied media reports that “several commercial ships evaded the blockade.”

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Getty Images

A second French soldier serving with the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon died in France today, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X.

The soldier died from wounds sustained in the same Hezbollah ambush that killed a soldier from France on Saturday, Macron said.

The soldiers were clearing an improvised explosive device from a road when they were ambushed by close-quarter heavy fire from Hezbollah fighters, according to the French defense minister.

A total of three soldiers from France have died in the current Middle East conflict. The first was killed by a drone strike on northern Iraq in March.

In a post on X, Iran’s president insisted the regime has “welcomed dialogue and agreement” with the U.S. but criticized the Trump administration for moves that he believes undermine peace talks.

“Breach of commitments, blockade and threats are main obstacles to genuine negotiations,” Masoud Pezeshkian said in the post. “World sees your endless hypocritical rhetoric and contradiction between claims and actions.”

In a post on social media, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and the head of the country’s negotiating delegation in the first round of talks in Islamabad, said the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz violates the ceasefire.

“A full ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated by a naval blockade and the holding hostage of the global economy, and if the Zionists’ war-mongering across all fronts is halted; reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible under a blatant breach of the ceasefire,” he wrote in a post on X, according to an NBC News translation from the original Farsi.

He said “they” — presumably the United States and Israel — “did not achieve their objectives through military aggression, and they will not achieve them through coercion either. The only path is to accept the rights of the Iranian nation.”

The management company of a container ship that was fired upon in the Strait of Hormuz early Wednesday says the Liberian-registered Epaminondas was “approached and fired upon by a manned gunboat” while transiting the strait about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Oman.

The Technomar company said all crew were “safe and accounted for” and no injuries were reported, but that preliminary inspections indicated the ship’s bridge had been damaged.

“Technomar remains in close contact with the crew and relevant authorities. Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our crew as we work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure their continued safety and investigate the incident,” the company said. It did not provide further details, but said more information would be released “when there are material developments.”

Asked in an interview on Newsmax if the U.S. would “go in” to Iran and “finish the job” if there’s no peace deal in the coming weeks, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said, “I think that’s right.”

“Previous presidents have had the same issues on what to do,” Marshall said, comparing it to President Truman’s decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan and then-Gen. Eisenhower’s decision to launch the D-Day attack in World War II.

“Every day is a new day. You have to take everything into consideration,” including “are they truly making progress or not,” Marshall said.

“In Iran they have conflict with who’s in control there,” but “our military is locked and loaded. The blockade is there as well,” he said, which is “literally starving them, both financially as well as — they can’t feed themselves either very long.”

“The president wants to get to peace as soon as he can,” Marshall said. “The president’s got this. I’ve got confidence in the president.”

The strike targeted a vehicle in the town of Tayri on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

No further details on the identities of the victims were immediately available.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.

The strike comes despite a 10-day ceasefire that went into effect Friday. Since then, several Israeli strikes have been reported, while Hezbollah has claimed a couple of attacks since Tuesday.

The mood in Tehran today felt noticeably different after two weeks of ceasefire with the U.S.

There were fewer people out on the streets, while traffic wasn’t heavy like its prewar levels.

Many people believed the war could resume at any moment today and some had already left the capital before Trump’s announcement of an extension.

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Pedestrians pass pro-Iranian street murals in Tehran today. Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

At the same time, authorities are working at full capacity to restore the city’s appearance and repair damaged areas. There is no visible debris anymore despite the intense U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign.

Arsalan, a local shop owner, said he was relieved the ceasefire had been extended. But he also expressed unease about the uncertainty surrounding Iran’s involvement in peace talks, given the impact of the war on the country’s already ailing economy.

“Are we back in limbo again? Are these guys going to Pakistan or what? What’s stopping them? It feels like they want war again, but how can they? Our prices are up and not many people come in to buy or even ask prices,” he said this morning.

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Street vendors in Tehran today. Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard brought what appeared to be a ballistic missile to a rally in Tehran as possible talks with the U.S. in Pakistan broke down. President Trump said he was extending the ceasefire with Iran while awaiting a “unified proposal” from Tehran.

The conflict consuming the Middle East is at a critical juncture between war and peace, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun has warned.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Guo said that the window for peace was open and that all parties should be seeking to move toward an end to the conflict.

His comments came as the possibility of a second round of talks between Washington and Tehran remained unclear.

He said China continued to support parties in maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire and talks so far.

The Israeli military has said it intercepted around 40 Israeli civilians who gathered near the border and attempted to enter Syria today.

The IDF said the civilians gathered at the border and then were able to infiltrate several hundred meters into the Israeli-military controlled buffer zone in Syria before being returned to Israel and taken into police custody.

The IDF said it “strongly condemns this incident and emphasizes its severity, which constitutes a criminal offense that endangers civilians and IDF troops.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says contacts are ongoing to extend the ceasefire between his country and Israel.

His comments come a day before a second meeting is scheduled to take place in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors.

Aoun said the aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process.

Aoun said the support to Lebanon that was promised by Trump and other countries “provided us with an opportunity that we must not miss, as it may not come again.”

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war was halted by a 10-day ceasefire that went into effect Friday.

Iran is sending an unmistakable message to Trump this morning with its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway where Tehran’s hard-line military is calling the shots.

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Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations did say overnight that as soon as the U.S. ends its naval blockade the next round of negotiations here in the Pakistani capital could take place.

The problem is that Trump seems to view the American blockade as crucial leverage.

That leaves us at what looks like a stalemate.

The continuing uncertainty and tension in the Strait of Hormuz has seen the price of Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, rise slightly to around $100 per barrel.

Reports of renewed strikes on boats in the strait, which normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil, has worried energy markets and Brent crude is 50% higher than a year ago.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose about 70 cents to $91 dollars a barrel.

People gathered at Enghelab and Vanak squares in Tehran last night to participate in anti-U.S.-Israel demonstrations. Participants waved Iranian flags and chanted slogans, and the Iranian armed forces displayed ballistic missiles at the protest site.

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Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

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Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

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Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

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Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for ‌Israel’s intelligence service and sharing sensitive information, the judiciary’s ​news outlet Mizan reported.

The man was identified as ​Mehdi Farid, Mizan reported today, according to Reuters. It said he had held a position in a civil defense unit within a sensitive organization and used that access to share intel with Israel’s Mossad.

It comes just days after Tehran executed two men also accused of cooperating with Mossad and planning attacks in Iran, The Times of Israel reported, citing Mizan.

Human rights activists have long said that Iran convicts people in closed-door trials without allowing them to properly defend themselves.

Two ships Iran says it seized in the Strait of Hormuz this morning appear to be just off the Iranian coast, as the Revolutionary Guard claimed, according to ship tracking data.

But it’s a different story for a third ship that semiofficial Iranian agencies say was fired on and now “stranded on Iranian shores.”

MarineTraffic data shows that the Euphoria passed through the strait yesterday, south of the Iranian island of Larak, before making multiple turns on its way through the strait this morning, slowing to a speed of less than 1 nautical mile per hour at around 5:30 a.m. ET.

The Euphoria’s last transmitted position was around 40 nautical miles south of the locations of the Epaminondas and Francesca, just after 6:20 a.m. ET today.

The Euphoria was transmitting from a location between Oman and Iran, whereas the Epaminondas and Francesca were transmitting less than 10 nautical miles from the shore of Iran. They are the two ships that the Revolutionary Guard says it seized.

Three ships have been targeted this morning by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the semiofficial news agency Fars has reported.

A Greek-owned ship named Euphoria is now stranded on Iran’s shores, Fars reported in a Telegram post.

Fars reported that the IRGC had also targeted two other “violating ships,” MSC Francesca and Epaminondas, which it said belonged to the shipping giant MSC and had been attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

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The MSC Francesca at Hamburg port in Germany in 2018. Krisztian Bocsi / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

It said both had been “immobilized.” The Revolutionary Guard said it had seized the Francesca and Epaminondas, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center earlier reported two ships had come under fire in the strait.

After earlier reports that two ships had been fired on in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard now says it has seized “two violating vessels.”

The MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas “had endangered maritime security by operating without the required authorization and by tampering with navigation systems,” the IRGC Navy Command said in a statement reported by state TV and news agencies.

The ships “were seized by the IRGC Navy and escorted to Iran’s coast,” it said. “Disrupting order and safety in the Strait of Hormuz is our red line.”

It said the Francesca was linked to Israel, without providing evidence.

It comes after Trump said he was keeping the U.S. blockade of Iran in place, and after U.S. forces seized an Iranian ship over the weekend before boarding another tanker linked to Iran’s oil trade.

As of 5 a.m. ET this morning, seven tankers or cargo ships have moved through the Strait of Hormuz in the preceding 12 hours, according to data collected by NBC News from MarineTraffic, a vessel tracking service.

Smaller special craft or tugboats were also present in the strait, along with three Iranian ships, including a tanker.

Multiple ships transiting through the strait have had intermittent pauses in the transmission of the Automated Identification Signal (AIS), which the International Maritime Organization mandates for many ships, including container vessels and tankers, to ensure safety in the world’s waterways.

The Panamanian-flagged cargo ship MSC Francesca had been in the Persian Gulf since April 18, before it maneuvered toward the strait and turned off its transponder. The ship reappeared this morning off the coast of Iran, east of the strait.

Likewise the Epaminondas, a Liberian-flagged cargo ship, was last detected in the Persian Gulf on April 18, heading toward the strait. It then stopped transmitting an AIS signal before it reappeared in the Strait of Hormuz this morning.

The Euphoria, a cargo ship sailing under the flag of Panama, did not turn off its transmitter and passed through the strait, south of the Iranian island of Larak, on April 21, before making multiple turns on its way through the strait this morning, slowing to a speed of less than 1 nautical mile per hour at around 5:30 a.m. ET, before picking up speed around an hour later.

The United Arab Emirates thanked Trump today for his mention of a possible currency swap with the Gulf country amid continued uncertainty around the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran.

Still, in a statement issued by the UAE Embassy in Washington, the country also sought to emphasize its economic resilience, saying that “any suggestion that the UAE requires external financial backing misreads the facts.”

“The UAE is one of the world’s most financially resilient economies, underpinned by more than $2 trillion in sovereign investment assets; more than $300 billion in foreign currency reserves held by the UAE’s central bank; and a banking sector with approximately $1.5 trillion in deposits,” it said, according to France 24.

It comes after Trump said yesterday that the U.S. was considering helping the UAE financially, with a currency swap under consideration.

Military planners from over 30 nations will meet today and tomorrow at the United Kingdom’s Permanent Joint Headquarters in London to discuss a multinational mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to the U.K. Military of Defense.

The sessions are meant to build on the progress of last week’s conference co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to coordinate maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz once the war ends.

Speaking on the summit, U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said the point of it is to safeguard freedom of navigation in the strait.

“International trade, energy security and the stability of the global economy depend on freedom of navigation,” Healey said. “By building on our common purpose, strengthening multinational coordination and planning for effective collective action, we can help reopen the Strait, stabilise the global economy and protect our people.”

The U.S. did not redeploy a key missile defense system from South Korea to the Middle East for use in the war with Iran, a U.S. general said.

Reports last month that the U.S. had moved parts of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which is used for high-altitude interception of ballistic missiles, had raised concerns that U.S. ally South Korea could be more vulnerable to attack by nuclear-armed North Korea.

“We’ve not moved any THAAD systems, so THAAD still remains on the peninsula currently,” Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, told a Senate committee hearing yesterday. “We are sending munitions forward, and those are sitting right now waiting to move.”

Brunson added that the U.S. had previously moved some radar components ahead of strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last June. “Some of those things have not come back yet, but the THAAD systems themselves remain on peninsula,” he said, adding that he expected them to stay there.

An Israeli drone strike killed one person and injured two others in Lebanon, according to state media.

The attack took place in Lebanon’s Western Bekaa region, according to the country’s National News Agency, despite an ongoing ceasefire agreement that went into effect last week.

Israel’s military denied that it had attacked the area, according to The Associated Press.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that if fighting with the U.S. and Israel resumes, it will “deliver crushing and unimaginable blows” to “remaining enemy assets in the region.”

In a statement this morning, the IRGC said it remained at the “height of readiness and determination” and was prepared to confront “any threat or renewed aggression.”

The warning comes after Trump said last night that he was extending the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely so its leadership could come up with a “unified proposal.”

The IRGC said it believed that a “victorious Iran” had emerged as the “dominant perception of global public opinion.”

Iran displayed what appeared to be a ballistic missile launcher during a rally in Tehran last night.

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Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images

A large crowd can be seen in photos and videos rallying in Iran’s capital during a pro-military demonstration.

What appeared to be a ballistic missile launcher could be seen being driven through the crowd as demonstrators chanted.

It came as the Revolutionary Guard vowed to deliver a crushing blow to U.S. assets in the region if fighting were to resume.

A second ship has now been “fired upon” this morning in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.K. maritime agency said. 

The cargo ship was leaving the area and is now stopped in the water, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.

All crew members on the ship were safe and accounted for, and there was no reported damage to the vessel, it said.

The agency added that it was “aware of high levels of activity” in the Strait of Hormuz. It did not specify who may have attacked the ship, but Iran earlier said it had opened fire on a container ship.

In a late-night Truth Social post, Trump said that Iran is “collapsing financially” amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. 

“Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately,” Trump wrote. “Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day.”

Trump also said that the country’s military and police were not getting paid.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the U.S. extension of its ceasefire with Iran was a welcome development and a chance for de-escalation, his spokesperson said.

“This is an important step toward de-escalation and creating critical space for diplomacy and confidence-building between Iran and the United States,” spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.

“We encourage all parties to build on this momentum, refrain from actions that could undermine the cease-fire, and engage constructively in negotiations to reach a sustainable and lasting resolution,” he said.

Dujarric added that Guterres “fully supports Pakistan’s efforts in facilitating further talks.”

A container ship in the Strait of Hormuz was attacked by an Iranian gunboat, the U.K. maritime agency said this morning.

The ship was approached by a boat belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which “fired upon the vessel,” causing “heavy damage to the bridge,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

All crew members were safe, and there was no fire or environmental impact reported, it said.

Iran’s Nour News, an outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guard, said that “a container ship that ignored warning was fired on by the Iranian armed forces and led to extensive damage to the ship.”