{"id":115843,"date":"2026-04-19T18:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/?p=115843"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:49:13","slug":"international-pressure-on-iran-mounts-as-end-of-ceasefire-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/?p=115843","title":{"rendered":"International Pressure On Iran Mounts As End Of Ceasefire Nears."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tehran; April 2026<\/strong>: As per Iranian official sources, vetted by Lloyd\u2019s List – traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has come to a halt after Iranian forces fired on several ships on Saturday (18th April 2026 late evening IST). The official sources have affirmed that there had been a brief flurry of activity during the day, but traffic was back to a standstill by Saturday evening after radio transmissions warned ships that the strait had gone back to \u201cstrict management and control by the Iranian armed forces. While several ships made it through the strait before the latest incidents, the vast majority of owners with ships stuck in the Middle East Gulf were on Saturday returning their ships to previous positions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of vessels passed Larak Island, where the IRGC is monitoring the passage, and then, all of a sudden, they turned back and started moving west. Moreover, the Indian tanker, the Sanmar Herald, which according to its audio recording, received permission to pass the strait. But that was later revoked by the IRGC, which then fired on the ship, forcing it to turn back. It is a state of utter confusion prevailing in the Hormuz region, where the ships have to meet Iranian conditions, and then, once they pass the Iranian authorities, they have to deal with the US naval blockade. So, this has just been a very complicated process for international shipping across the vital Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Simon Mabon, a professor at Lancaster University in England, says two things are worth bearing in mind as Iran appears to be heightening its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by going after civilian vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First<\/strong>, there\u2019s a question mark over whether this marks a more forceful, more coercive effort to control what\u2019s happening in the Strait of Hormuz or whether it\u2019s a broader issue of power structures within the Islamic Republic more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hearing lots of mixed messages\u201d so questions remain over who is making the decisions within the Iranian government, Mabon has said. This could be part of a deliberate strategy, or it could be \u201ca reflection of a broader uncertainty in terms of who is taking these decisions over what to do diplomatically, politically and strategically in the strait\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second,<\/strong> \u201cthings are going to get more and more heated when you have essentially two different blockading forces competing for control over the Strait of Hormuz. I think that really ratchets up the tensions, and in light of that with the unknowns, the pressures of the ceasefire looming, it makes it a really precarious moment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceasefire with the United States is set to expire on Wednesday (22nd April 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other side, Pakistani sources have said that negotiations between the United States and Iran will likely take place before Friday. Speaking to media outlets they said they came to this conclusion based on several factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly<\/strong>, they cited the fact \u201ctwo US heavy airlift aircraft, C-17 Globemasters, have landed at Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi\u201d, near the Pakistani capital Islamabad. They also said \u201croads from the airport to Islamabad\u2019s Red Zone have been temporarily closed, indicating heightened security arrangements\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly<\/strong>, \u201cboth the Serena and Marriott hotels in Islamabad are being cleared of guests with no new bookings allowed until Friday\u201d, according to the sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first round of negotiations between the US and Iran took place at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad on April 11th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a lot of controversies when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians are trying to use this as a pressure point, as a leverage point, when it comes to the negotiations that might be ahead. The Strait of Hormuz could be an important bargaining chip, perhaps the most important one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the Iranians had formally announced that wartime conditions had actually imposed this situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Then, later, after the idea of concessions, the Iranians were interested in reopening it. But there was a condition they mentioned time and again, which is a ceasefire in Lebanon. After that development on the Lebanese front, the Iranians decided to reopen it to everyone, with the foreign minister saying that it was going to be open to commercial vessels. But later again, it turned out that there was another obstacle \u2013 the effective blockade by the Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team Maverick<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tehran; April 2026: As per Iranian official sources, vetted by Lloyd\u2019s List – traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has come to a halt after Iranian forces fired on several ships on Saturday (18th April 2026 late evening IST). The official sources have affirmed that there had been a brief flurry of activity during the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":115844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[81],"post_format":[],"flags":[],"class_list":["post-115843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115845,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115843\/revisions\/115845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115843"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_format&post=115843"},{"taxonomy":"flags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fflags&post=115843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}