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Iran live updates: Tehran reviewing new US proposals as it reasserts control over Strait of Hormuz

The White House said on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was "completely open."

Last Updated: April 18, 2026, 12:48 PM EDT

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military and government sites.

After negotiations, U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan failed to reach a peace deal. Trump said that Iran's nuclear program was the key sticking point, and said the U.S. would respond with a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz starting at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.

Iran announced it would fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, but Trump said the blockade will remain in place until the U.S.'s "transaction" with Iran is complete.

Israel, meanwhile, has reached a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, ending its ground operations and intense strikes, where it was engaged with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he supported the ceasefire with Iran.

12:43 PM EDT

Iran says it's reviewing new US proposals delivered via Pakistan

Iran said it is reviewing new proposals from the U.S. conveyed through Pakistan's mediators, with no response issued thus far.

The proposals were presented in recent days during the Pakistani army chief's visit to Tehran amid efforts to revive negotiations, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement published by state media Saturday.

Pointing to the conditions tied to a ceasefire in all fronts, the council said Tehran had agreed to a temporary opening of the Strait of Hormuz following a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Ships and tankers in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Musandam, Oman, April 18, 2026.
Stringer via Reuters

The council noted in the statement that Tehran allows only commercial vessels to pass, excluding military ships and vessels from "hostile countries."

The council said it will continue to monitor and control maritime traffic through the strategic waterway until a lasting peace is achieved, citing security concerns over the use of the strait to supply U.S. military bases in the region.

-ABC News' Maryam Rahimi

10:45 AM EDT

Trump says Iran getting 'a little cute' as it seeks to reimpose control over strait

President Donald Trump acknowledged that Iran is seeking to close the Strait of Hormuz again, saying Iran "got a little cute."

“They can't blackmail us,” he said.

“We have very good conversations going on. It's, it's working out very well. They got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years, and nobody ever took them on. We took them on,” Trump said.

The president then appeared to brag that the U.S. was benefiting from the lack of oil transiting through the strait — touting that ships were coming to the U.S. now instead.

“In fact, a lot of the ships are coming up to Texas I don't know if you know, in Louisiana, the ships are coming up. They got used to it. Maybe they'll keep doing it," Trump said.

-ABC News' Selina Wang and Nicholas Kerr

9:22 AM EDT

Container targeted by Iranian projectile damaged

A container ship reported being struck by an "unknown projectile" causing damage in the Strait of Hormuz, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operation said in a warning Saturday.

The projectile struck the cargo ship 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman causing "damage to some of the containers, no fires or environment impact reported," the warning said.

Earlier the UKMTO reported a tanker was fired upon by two Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps "gun boats."

It comes after a spokesperson for the Iranian Armed Forces, said “The Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state.”

-ABC News' Othon Leyva Jr.

8:05 AM EDT

Iran 'courageously defending' itself, Khamenei says in statement

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said in a statement on Saturday that his country was "now courageously defending the land, water, and flag that belong to it."

Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since the beginning of the war, said in the statement that Iran in fighting against the U.S. and Israel was "battling against the two leading armies of disbelief and Arrogance."

An Iranian woman holds up an image of Iran's new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as she takes part in a rally dubbed "Sacrificed Girls" to pay tribute to women killed during the Middle East war, in Tehran on April 17, 2026.
AFP via Getty Images

"And the Islamic Army has exposed those armies' weakness and abjectness to the world," the statement said. "In the same way that its drones strike the US and the Zionist murderers like lightning, its valiant navy is also ready to inflict new bitter defeats on its enemies."

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