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.
Trump later announced the open-ended extension of the ceasefire and the continuation of the blockade until Iran's proposal is submitted and discussions are concluded "one way or the other."
Satellite images show ships seized by Iran at anchor in Strait of Hormuz
Iran relocated two seized cargo vessels -- the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas -- to anchor positions close to Hormuz Island in the northern part of the Strait of Hormuz close to the Iranian coastline, according to satellite imagery taken on April 27.
This satellite image shows the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz on April 27, 2026.
Copernicus Sentinel 2
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the seizure of the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas in the eastern part of the Strait of Hormuz last week, accusing the vessels of "attempting to secretly exit the Strait of Hormuz" without coordination with Tehran.
The satellite images were captured by the European Union's Copernicus Sentinel 2 satellite.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
3 hours and 15 minutes ago
Bessent predicts that Iranian oil pumping 'will soon collapse'
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post to X on Monday that Iran's oil industry is "creaking" under the pressure of the U.S. naval blockade, predicting that the country's ability to pump oil "will soon collapse."
"While the surviving IRGC Leaders are trapped like drowning rats in a sewage pipe, Iran's creaking oil industry is starting to shut in production thanks to the U.S. BLOCKADE," Bessent wrote.
"Pumping will soon collapse. GASOLINE SHORTAGES IN IRAN NEXT!" he added.
This screen grab taken from a screen recording of the MarineTraffic website on April 21, 2026, shows a data visualization of maritime traffic in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman from April 18 to April 20.
Secretary Marco Rubio suggested to Fox News in an interview on Monday that Iran's peace proposal falls short of the U.S. conditions for ending the war, now entering its third month.
Two officials familiar with the matter told ABC News that the Iranian proposal consists of a loosening of Tehran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the lifting of the U.S. blockade. Talks on Iran's nuclear program would then be pushed back to an unspecified future date, Tehran's proposal suggested.
Rubio, though, said the nuclear issue was at the heart of the U.S. position. "The nuclear question is the reason why we're in this in the first place," Rubio said.
Iranian worshippers perform Friday prayers under the portraits of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military officials who were killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign, at the Tehran University in Tehran, April 24, 2026.
Vahid Salemi/AP
Rubio also said the U.S. would not allow Tehran to retain control over the Strait of Hormuz, or to continue to charge tolls to shipping passing through.
"Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it," he said.
Rubio underscored U.S. concerns about the regime's ability to agree to a deal and the status of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
"One of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren't just negotiating with Iranians. Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they're willing to do, even who they're willing to meet with," Rubio said.
Asked whether he believed Mojtaba Khamenei was still alive, Rubio replied, "We have indications that he is. Obviously they claim that he is. We don't have evidence that he's not."
"I think the question between alive and in power are two different questions. You can be alive -- but I think the unresolved questions here are does he have the same credibility as his father did," Rubio said.
Rubio also suggested that the Iranian proposal may not have the backing of all factions jostling for influence in Tehran. "I think there are still questions about whether the person submitting it had the authority to submit that offer," he said.
Nonetheless, Rubio said he believed the Iranians "are serious about getting themselves out of the mess that they're in."
-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston
Apr 27, 2026, 11:26 AM EDT
Israel, Hezbollah trade strikes, accuse each other of violating ceasefire
The Israeli military said Monday it was striking Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and further northeast in the Beqaa Valley area.
The Israeli military also accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire, saying Hezbollah launched several drones at IDF forces in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah issued two statements referring to these attacks as responses to Israel's own violations of the ceasefire. Hezbollah said the drones targeted an Israeli tank and an Israeli bulldozer "while it was demolishing homes in the city of Bint Jbeil," which it said was "in response to the Israeli enemy’s violation of the ceasefire and the demolition of homes in villages of southern Lebanon."
