President Donald Trump introduced “main fight operations” in opposition to Iran on Feb. 28, with large joint U.S.-Israeli strikes concentrating on navy, authorities and infrastructure websites.
Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, preliminary U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan earlier this month failed to achieve a peace deal.
Trump later introduced the open-ended extension of the ceasefire and the continuation of the blockade till Iran’s proposal is submitted and discussions are concluded “by hook or by crook.”
Newest Developments
Apr 28, 1:34 PM
Israel will deal with southern Lebanon ‘similar to Gaza,’ Israeli protection minister saysIsrael will proceed to destroy terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon “similar to in Gaza,” Israeli Protection Minister Israel Katz mentioned on Tuesday.
Jalaa Marey/AFP through Getty Photographs – PHOTO: Israeli tanks and navy autos drive alongside the highway between destroyed homes in southern Lebanon close to the border with Israel, on April 25, 2026.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I’ve instructed the IDF to destroy each terror infrastructure within the safety zone as much as the yellow line, under and above floor, similar to in Gaza,” Katz mentioned.
“The IDF has now destroyed an underground terror infrastructure in Qantara, Lebanon, in an enormous explosion, inside the brand new safety zone,” Katz mentioned.
A ceasefire has in place since April 16 however strikes in opposition to Hezbollah in Lebanon have continued. Hezbollah has additionally continued to focus on Israeli troop positions in southern Lebanon.
-ABC Information’ Dorit Lengthy
Apr 28, 1:19 PM
Iran overtly threatening greater response if attacked once more, Iranian navy spokesperson says
Iran signaled Tuesday that it’s not standing down in its dealings with the US amid the struggle.
Iran mentioned it doesn’t contemplate the struggle over. Regardless of the ceasefire, Iran mentioned it’s actively updating targets, persevering with coaching, and producing and upgrading weapons. “Circumstances stay these of wartime,” Mohammad Akraminia, Iranian Military spokesman, mentioned on Tuesday.
Akraminia mentioned Iran’s response to future assaults from the U.S. could be extreme.
“We’ve many playing cards we have now not but performed. We possess new arenas of struggle, new instruments, and new strategies of preventing primarily based on the experiences of the 2 earlier wars. We’ve many playing cards we have now not but performed. We possess new arenas of struggle, new instruments, and new strategies of preventing primarily based on the experiences of the 2 earlier wars. We are able to actually reply to the enemy extra decisively and extra crushingly,” he mentioned. “We are able to actually reply to the enemy extra decisively and extra crushingly.”
Majid Asgaripour/Reuters – PHOTO: An Iranian flag in Tehran, Iran, April 27, 2026.
–ABC Information’ Desiree Adib
Apr 28, 10:08 AM
Trump says Iran ‘knowledgeable’ the US that it is in a ‘state of collapse’
President Donald Trump wrote, with out citing proof, on social media on Tuesday that “Iran has simply knowledgeable us that they’re in a ‘State of Collapse.’”
Trump mentioned Iran is asking for the U.S. to raise the naval blockade within the Strait of Hormuz “as quickly as potential.”
Trump added that this alleged request from Iran comes because the nation tries “o work out their management scenario,” which he mentioned he “consider[s] they are going to be capable of do!”
Trump has repeatedly expressed blended messages about Iran’s management, insisting that regime change has occurred, whereas additionally claiming that the U.S. doesn’t know who Iran’s leaders are.
-ABC Information’ Emily Chang
Apr 28, 6:41 AM
Rubio says competing ‘hardliner’ factions in Iran complicating talks
Chatting with Fox Information in an interview printed on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that competing teams of “hardliners” in Iran are complicating stalled peace talks with the U.S.
“They’re all hardliners in Iran. However there are hardliners who perceive they should run a rustic and an financial system and there are hardliners which are fully motivated by theology,” Rubio mentioned.
Atta Kenare/AFP through Getty Photographs – PHOTO: A person carries an Iranian flag in Sadeghyeh Sq. in Tehran on April 27, 2026.
“The hardliners which are motivated by theology aren’t simply the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] officers, however clearly the supreme chief and the council that surrounds him,” Rubio continued.
“And then you definately’ve bought the political class — the overseas minister, the president, the speaker, the majlis, these guys — they’re hardliners too, however in addition they perceive the nation has to have an financial system. Individuals should eat. They’ve to determine a strategy to pay salaries of their authorities,” Rubio mentioned.
“Sadly, the hardliners, with an apocalyptic imaginative and prescient of the longer term, have the last word energy in that nation,” Rubio added.
-ABC Information’ Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti
Apr 28, 6:29 AM
US achieved none of its targets in Iran, Araghchi says
Chatting with a reporter in St. Petersburg throughout his go to to Russia, Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned that the U.S. had achieved none of its targets and was due to this fact asking for negotiations — a request Araghchi mentioned Iran is “contemplating.”
Relating to bilateral Iranian-Russian relations, Araghchi mentioned the 2 international locations are “strategic companions” and that cooperation between them would proceed.
Dmitry Lovetsky/POOL/AFP through Getty Photographs – PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi attend talks on the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 27, 2026.
-ABC Information’ Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti
Apr 28, 5:22 AM
CENTCOM says it intercepted vessel attempting to achieve Iran on Sunday
U.S. Central Command mentioned in a submit to X on Monday that the guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta intercepted the M/T Stream vessel “after it tried to sail to an Iranian port” on Sunday.
Apr 28, 4:48 AM
Satellite tv for pc photographs present 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 near Hormuz Island within the northern a part of the Strait of Hormuz near the Iranian shoreline, based on satellite tv for pc imagery taken on April 27.
Copernicus Sentinel 2 – PHOTO: This satellite tv for pc picture reveals the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas at anchor within the Strait of Hormuz on April 27, 2026.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps introduced the seizure of the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas within the japanese a part of the Strait of Hormuz final week, accusing the vessels of “trying to secretly exit the Strait of Hormuz” with out coordination with Tehran.
The satellite tv for pc photographs have been captured by the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel 2 satellite tv for pc.
-ABC Information’ Victoria Beaule
Apr 28, 3:28 AM
Bessent predicts that Iranian oil pumping ‘will quickly collapse’
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned in a submit to X on Monday that Iran’s oil business is “creaking” beneath the stress of the U.S. naval blockade, predicting that the nation’s potential to pump oil “will quickly collapse.”
“Whereas the surviving IRGC Leaders are trapped like drowning rats in a sewage pipe, Iran’s creaking oil business is beginning to shut in manufacturing due to the U.S. BLOCKADE,” Bessent wrote.
“Pumping will quickly collapse. GASOLINE SHORTAGES IN IRAN NEXT!” he added.
-/MARINETRAFFIC.COM/AFP through Getty – PHOTO: This display screen seize taken from a display screen recording of the MarineTraffic web site on April 21, 2026, reveals an information visualization of maritime visitors within the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman from April 18 to April 20.
Apr 28, 3:05 AM
Rubio dismisses Iran peace proposal, stresses nuclear concern
Secretary Marco Rubio steered to Fox Information in an interview on Monday that Iran’s peace proposal falls in need of the U.S. situations for ending the struggle, now coming into its third month.
Two officers acquainted with the matter instructed ABC Information that the Iranian proposal consists of a loosening of Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz in change for the lifting of the U.S. blockade. Talks on Iran’s nuclear program would then be pushed again to an unspecified future date, Tehran’s proposal steered.
Rubio, although, mentioned the nuclear concern was on the coronary heart of the U.S. place. “The nuclear query is the rationale why we’re on this within the first place,” Rubio mentioned.
Vahid Salemi/AP – PHOTO: Iranian worshippers carry out Friday prayers beneath the portraits of the late Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and prime navy officers who have been killed throughout the U.S.-Israel marketing campaign, on the Tehran College in Tehran, April 24, 2026.
Rubio additionally mentioned the U.S. wouldn’t enable Tehran to retain management over the Strait of Hormuz, or to proceed to cost tolls to transport passing by way of.
“These are worldwide waterways. They can’t normalize, nor can we tolerate them attempting to normalize, a system through which the Iranians resolve who will get to make use of a world waterway and the way a lot it’s important to pay them to make use of it,” he mentioned.
Rubio underscored U.S. considerations concerning the regime’s potential to comply with a deal and the standing of latest Supreme Chief Mojtaba Khamenei.
“One of many impediments right here is that our negotiators aren’t simply negotiating with Iranians. These Iranians then have to barter with different Iranians as a way to work out what they’ll comply with, what they’ll supply, what they’re prepared to do, even who they’re prepared to fulfill with,” Rubio mentioned.
Requested whether or not he believed Mojtaba Khamenei was nonetheless alive, Rubio replied, “We’ve indications that he’s. Clearly they declare that he’s. We do not have proof that he is not.”
“I believe the query between alive and in energy are two completely different questions. You could be alive — however I believe the unresolved questions listed below are does he have the identical credibility as his father did,” Rubio mentioned.
Rubio additionally steered that the Iranian proposal could not have the backing of all factions jostling for affect in Tehran. “I believe there are nonetheless questions on whether or not the individual submitting it had the authority to submit that supply,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, Rubio mentioned he believed the Iranians “are severe about getting themselves out of the mess that they are in.”
-ABC Information’ Shannon Okay. Kingston
Apr 27, 11:26 AM
Israel, Hezbollah commerce strikes, accuse one another of violating ceasefire
The Israeli navy mentioned Monday it was placing Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and additional northeast within the Beqaa Valley space.
The Israeli navy additionally accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire, saying Hezbollah launched a number of drones at IDF forces in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah issued two statements referring to those assaults as responses to Israel’s personal violations of the ceasefire. Hezbollah mentioned the drones focused an Israeli tank and an Israeli bulldozer “whereas it was demolishing properties within the metropolis of Bint Jbeil,” which it mentioned was “in response to the Israeli enemy’s violation of the ceasefire and the demolition of properties in villages of southern Lebanon.”
-ABC Information’ Victoria Beaulé
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