Iran war updates: US block of Hormuz begins, Hezbollah rejects Israel talks

This live page is closing, but our 24-hour coverage of the conflict continues.

Join us for all the latest developments, analyses and reactions here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a brief recap of the day’s main developments:

• US President Donald Trump announced the beginning of a military blockade of all maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports. Iran has called the move an “act of piracy” and warned the US against provocative acts.
• The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah slammed planned talks between Israel and the Lebanese government, set to begin in Washington, DC, on Tuesday. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem called the talks “futile” and said that the Lebanese government should help defend the country against Israeli “aggression” and expansionist aims.
• Fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces continues in southern Lebanon, where Israel has pressed forward with its ground invasion and carried out blistering strikes on towns and villages.
• Israeli forces bulldozed buildings in the Lebanese town of Naqoura and carried out strikes on Tayri, while Hezbollah says that its members engaged Israeli forces in Israel’s Hanita and al-Malikiyah.
• Concerns about the economic fallout from disruptions caused by the war on Iran continue to grow, with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warning that the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a global food catastrophe.
• Officials from the International Energy Agency said that disruptions to global oil supply constitute the “greatest energy security challenge in history”.

We can now bring you more comments from US Vice President JD Vance, who discussed the situation with Iran in an interview with Fox News.

Vance weighed in on Trump’s feud with Pope Leo XIV, after the US president derided the pontiff as “weak” and “terrible for foreign policy” over the pontiff’s criticism of the Iran war.

“I certainly think that, in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality … and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said.

The Iranian state news agency IRNA has reported that Tehran is demanding compensation from five countries in the region, citing comments from Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir-Saeid Iravani.

The countries named were Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Jordan, with Iravani claiming they had “breached their international obligations toward the Islamic Republic of Iran under international law”, and should pay compensation for damages caused by the war.

There was no immediate reaction from the countries, which have repeatedly condemned the Iranian attacks across the region as a “flagrant violation” of international law and the UN Charter.

[The US] wants to choke [Iran] off, by blocking everything coming in and out of Iranian ports, [the] Iranian access to world markets, to essentially throttle their energy industry.

What the US hopes is that there’ll be pressure on Iran from some of its main business partners, including China.

China imports roughly a third of its domestic oil from Tehran, and it’s been doing that throughout the war. Now, suddenly, if China doesn’t get access to Iranian oil, that causes the Chinese a problem.

The United States is hoping that pressure on China will mean China putting pressure on Iran and forc[ing] Iran to get back to the negotiating table.

Remember, the ceasefire only has nine days left to run. Donald Trump believes the Chinese will put that pressure on Tehran sooner rather than later.

About 50 percent of Iran’s exports are oil, and it’s most of the Iranian government’s revenue. The US plan is, if you can just starve Iran of that, then it starves a lot of its energy infrastructure and a lot of its energy profits in the same way that Iran has been able to do by shutting the Strait of Hormuz, at least to ships that aren’t willing to pay the toll or are allies of Israel or the United States.

I think it was described by someone earlier that we interviewed as playing the “reverse Uno card”. They’re trying to turn back on Iran what Iran itself has been doing to the United States, and saying, “Well, if you’re going to affect the traffic of our allies and other countries around the world, we’re also going to try and affect your profits.”

The endgame is that President Trump wants to see the Strait of Hormuz open, but he also wants Iran to accept the aims that he’s had since this conflict began. Chief among them that Iran give up its plans to develop a nuclear weapon and give up the enriched uranium that it has in the country.

Russian Foreign Minister ⁠Sergey Lavrov ⁠has told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that the conflict has “no military solution” and urged him to prevent any resumption of hostilities.

Lavrov also confirmed “Russia’s ⁠unwavering readiness” to assist in solving the crisis, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

The Ministry said Araghchi related to Lavrov the details of US-Iranian ‌talks in Pakistan over the weekend, which ‌failed ‌to achieve a solution.

Russia and Iran are allies and signed the Iranian–Russian Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2025, a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty”, which included military cooperation.

The directors of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and International Energy Agency (IEA) have warned that disruptions from the US-Israel war on Iran could mean a “prolonged period” of high prices for vital commodities, such as energy and fertiliser.

IEA Director Fatih Birol said the disruptions to the global energy market caused by the war were “the greatest energy security challenge in history”, adding that about one-third of the region’s energy facilities tracked by the agency have been damaged.

Birol added that global economic conditions could worsen in April, as the supply of oil from ships that were already in transit when the war began starts to dwindle.

Pakistan has emerged as the key negotiator in talks between the United States and Iran.

The first round may have been unsuccessful, but people in the country have expressed pride in having been chosen as hosts.

Officials remain hopeful that negotiations will continue.

Watch the video below for more insight from our correspondent in Pakistan:

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned against the dangerous consequences of provocative US actions in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz for the peace and security of the region and the world, according to the Fars news agency.

The minister issued the warning during a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, according to Fars.

Trump’s announcement that the US military has begun a blockade of Iranian ports comes amid debate over the legality of those efforts, with experts saying that implementation will be a key factor.

“How it is carried out will determine whether it is lawful or not,” Todd Huntley, a retired US Navy captain and director of Georgetown University’s national security law programme, told The Associated Press. Some criteria could include impartial implementation and the passage of humanitarian aid.

An analysis by former Navy commander and military lawyer Mark Nevitt, published by the nonpartisan policy journal Just Security, also states that, even if it is legal, the blockade of Iranian ports still constitutes a belligerent act.

“The blockade can be established only by the government of a belligerent State,” the analysis reads. “Blockade is not a peacetime operation. By establishing the blockade, the United States is exercising a belligerent right under the laws of war, effectively ending the ceasefire.”

Oil prices are likely to continue rising until “meaningful” ship traffic resumes through the Strait of Hormuz, likely in the next few weeks, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

Wright told the Semafor World Economy forum in Washington, DC, that despite previous comments he made that oil prices would likely come down soon, they are likely to stay high or even rise until a substantial flow of traffic resumes through the strait.

Marine Traffic data shows that at least two tankers reversed course near the Strait of Hormuz shortly after the US blockade went into effect, suggesting an immediate impact on vessel transit.

One vessel, the 188-metre (617ft) tanker Rich Starry, had departed the Sharjah anchorage of the UAE coast, signalling China as its destination. A second vessel, the 175-metre (574ft) tanker Ostria, also reversed course after approaching the strait.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end fighting in southern Lebanon and engage in direct peace talks with the Lebanese government, according to a spokesman.

Merz also expressed his “grave concern” about developments in the occupied Palestinian territory in a telephone conversation with Netanyahu and demanded that there “must be no de facto partial annexation of the West Bank”.

On the war in Iran, the German Chancellor told Netanyahu that “Germany is prepared to contribute to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”, but only following the “cessation of hostilities” and “provided the necessary conditions are met”.