explainer
Iran wants talks, but blames the stalled negotiations on the United States’ “broken commitments, blockades, and intimidation.”
Published April 23, 2026
Amid heightened tensions at sea, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seizing two foreign ships and firing on a third, senior Iranian officials have blamed the United States for stalling peace talks, saying the U.S. blockade of the country’s ports is a major obstacle.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country seeks “dialogue and agreement” but “broken commitments, blockades and intimidation” are hampering negotiations, while the White House said US President Donald Trump had not set a deadline for extending the ceasefire, with White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt stressing the timing was the president’s decision.
Here’s what we know:
in iran
Reopening the Strait of Hormuz ‘impossible’: Iranian parliament speaker says his country will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the US naval blockade remains in place, calling the latter a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire between the two countries. Naval incidents intensify: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reported seizing two foreign ships in the Strait of Hormuz and opening fire on a third vessel for violating regulations against ships passing through the waterway.
war diplomacy
No deadline for Iran peace plan: President Trump has not set a deadline by which Iran must submit a peace plan, the White House announced Wednesday. “Contrary to some reports I saw today, the president has not set a firm deadline for receiving Iran’s proposal. Ultimately, the timeline will be determined by the commander in chief,” Levitt told reporters. Lebanon-Israel talks face ‘functional deficiencies’: Mark Kimmitt, a retired US Army brigadier general and former assistant secretary of state, told Al Jazeera that talks in Washington DC aimed at strengthening the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon are being undermined by Hezbollah’s absence. “There is Israel, Lebanon and the United States, but there is no Hezbollah,” he said.
in the US
Pentagon shake-up: Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Navy Secretary John Phelan, making him the 34th senior official to be fired under the Trump administration. Vice Secretary Hung Kao, a 25-year combat veteran of the Navy, was appointed acting Navy secretary. Senate rejects war powers resolution: The U.S. Senate voted 55-46 to reject a bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin that would have curbed President Trump’s war powers against Iran, marking the fifth such failure. Most Democrats joined with Republican Rand Paul in supporting the bill, while most Republicans joined with Democrat John Fetterman in opposing it, and three senators, including Democrat Mark Warner, did not vote. US intensifies blockade of Iran: US Central Command announced it had turned back 31 ships, mostly oil tankers, as part of a massive naval blockade involving at least 10,000 soldiers, 17 warships and more than 100 aircraft. Blockade ‘pressures’ Iran: Reporting from Washington, D.C., Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said President Trump believes the ongoing naval blockade is increasing economic pressure on Iran to return it to negotiations.
in israel
‘Serious differences’: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel has no “serious differences” with Lebanon and called Hezbollah an “obstacle to peace and normalization.”
in Lebanon and Gaza
Israeli attack kills journalist, injures colleague: Despite a ceasefire, an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday killed at least five people, including al-Akhbar correspondent Amal Khalil, and wounded freelance journalist Zeinab Farage. Reporters ‘chased’, rescuers attacked: Reporting from Tire, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett said two journalists were attacked by additional Israeli forces in al-Tairi, and the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that the two journalists were ‘chase’ while evacuating. They were stranded when the access road was hit, a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance evacuating one was forced to retreat after being hit with stun grenades and gunfire, and the other was found dead after several hours of rescue efforts. 5 killed in Israeli attack on Gaza: Three of the five Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack on a group of civilians near the al-Qassam Mosque in the northern city of Beit Lahiya were children, the Gaza Civil Defense Agency announced Wednesday.
