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Top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says US naval blockade of Iran\u2019s ports is \u2018a clumsy and ignorant decision\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 18 Apr 2026<\/span>18 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC) says the Strait of Hormuz is closed and that any ship that attempts to pass through the waterway will be targeted, a dramatic reversal less than 24 hours after the critical shipping lane was reopened.<\/p>\n In a statement carried by Iran\u2019s Student News Agency, the IRGC navy said on Saturday the strait will be closed until the United States lifts its naval blockade on Iranian vessels and ports. It said the blockade was a violation of the ongoing ceasefire agreement in the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cWe warn that no vessel of any kind should move from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s parliament speaker and a senior negotiator in talks between Washington and Tehran on ending the war, said in a television interview that \u201cthe Strait of Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Americans have been declaring a blockade for several days now. This is a clumsy and ignorant decision,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The reassertion of control came just hours after Iran had briefly reopened the strait, in line with a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Oil prices dropped on global markets after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that the waterway was \u201ccompletely open for all commercial vessels.\u201d<\/p>\n More than a dozen commercial ships passed through the waterway before the IRGC reversed course.<\/p>\n Iranian gunboats reportedly fired on two commercial ships on Saturday, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). India\u2019s Ministry of External Affairs also said that two Indian-flagged ships were involved in a \u201cshooting incident\u201d in the strait.<\/p>\n Some merchant vessels in the region received radio messages from the IRGC Navy, warning that no ships were being allowed through the strait.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump said Tehran could not blackmail Washington by closing the waterway and warned that he would put an end to the ceasefire if a deal before its expiry on Wednesday is not reached. Trump added that the naval blockade would \u201cremain in full force\u201d.<\/p>\n Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, meanwhile, said the navy was ready to inflict \u201cnew bitter defeats\u201d on its enemies.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera correspondent Zein Basravi said that Iran and the US are back where they were the previous day.<\/p>\n \u201cLess than 24 hours ago, world leaders were praising what they thought was a breakthrough in this conflict, hoping Iran was signalling a confidence-building measure by opening the Strait of Hormuz, potentially leading to a ceasefire deal and a permanent end to the war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs disappointed as people may be, this isn\u2019t entirely surprising. What we\u2019re seeing now is a return to square one,\u201d he added, saying there are now \u201ctwo competing blockades in place\u201d.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said Iran was using the strait to send a message.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear that Iran is dealing with a situation in which they are not sure what\u2019s on the table. So the Strait of Hormuz is once again the only space for engagement, even if it\u2019s a negative engagement. And it\u2019s the space where they are sending and conveying messages to the Americans, showing their leverage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says US naval blockade of Iran\u2019s ports is \u2018a clumsy and ignorant decision\u2019. Published On 18 Apr 202618 Apr 2026 Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC) says the Strait of Hormuz is closed and that any ship that attempts to pass through the waterway will be targeted, a dramatic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018Two competing blockades\u2019<\/h2>\n
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