Iran live updates: CENTCOM says 31 vessels turned back during blockade
Iran live updates: CENTCOM says 31 vessels turned back during blockade
DAVID BRENNAN, EMILY SHAPIRO, LEAH SARNOFF, NADINE EL-BAWAB and MEREDITH DELISOThu, April 23, 2026 at 7:40 AM UTC
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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. On Tuesday, Trump announced he was extending the ceasefire and continuing the blockade until Iran's proposal is submitted and discussions are concluded "one way or the other."
Latest Developments
Apr 23, 3:40 AMLebanon's Aoun says Israel targets journalists to hide 'aggressive acts'
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office published a statement to X on Thursday alleging that Israel's "deliberate and consistent targeting of journalists" is aimed at "concealing the truth of its aggressive acts against Lebanon."The president's statement came after Israeli forces killed journalist Amal Khalil, who worked for Lebanon's Al Akhbar newspaper, in an attack in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
Uncredited/AP - PHOTO: This Lebanese Civil Defense photo shows rescue workers on a excavator carrying the body of the Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, in al-Tiri village, south Lebanon, on April 22, 2026.
Lebanese authorities said Khalil was directly targeted and accused Israeli forces of firing on rescue workers trying to reach her. Journalist Zainab Faraj was also injured in the attack, authorities said.Such attacks constitute "crimes against humanity," Aoun's office said.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the killing in a post to X, in which he described Israeli actions as "war crimes."-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey
Apr 23, 3:15 AMCENTCOM says 31 vessels turned back during blockade
U.S. Central Command said in a post to X on Wednesday night that it had directed 31 vessels "to turn around or return to port" as part of the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian shipping.
-/NAVCENT PUBLIC AFFAIRS/US NAVY/A - PHOTO: This U.S. Navy handout photograph released on April 21, 2026, by U.S. Central Command Public Affairs shows Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy patrolling the Arabian Sea during a maritime blockade on April 15, 2026.
-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey
Apr 22, 8:01 PMLebanese journalist killed in 'targeted' strike, officials say
A Lebanese journalist was among those killed in strikes on a town in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanese officials said, while accusing Israel of targeting journalists.Amal Khalil and her colleague, Zeinab Faraj, had taken shelter in a nearby house following a strike on Al-Tayri, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a statement published by the country's official National News Agency (NNA). The health ministry said the house was targeted in a second strike.
Mohammed Zaatari/AP - PHOTO: Amal Khalil, a Lebanese journalist working for the daily Al-Akhbar newspaper, reports near a destroyed bridge in Qasmiyeh, Lebanon, March 22, 2026.
Rescuers arrived on scene and transported Faraj, who was injured, and the bodies of two others to a hospital, the health ministry said. The first responders were unable to rescue Khalil because Israeli forces "obstructed the humanitarian mission, firing a stun grenade at the ambulance and targeting it with gunfire," according to the health ministry.The Lebanese Red Cross later announced that it had found Khalil's body beneath the rubble, according to NNA. Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos also confirmed Khalil's death, saying in a social media post: "Targeting journalists is a heinous crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which we will not tolerate."When asked for comment, the Israel Defense Forces referred ABC News to an earlier statement that said it carried out airstrikes targeting individuals who had violated the ceasefire and approached Israeli troops "in a manner that posed an immediate threat to their safety."The IDF noted in the statement: "Reports were received that two journalists were injured as a result of the strikes. The IDF is not preventing rescue teams from reaching the area. The details of the incident are under review."According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Khalil was a reporter for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar and Faraj is a freelance photojournalist. Both were on assignment at the time of the attack, it said.
Apr 22, 7:26 PMVideo shows gunmen seizing commercial ships, Iran says
Iran State Media - PHOTO: A still from a video released by Iranian state media outlets purportedly shows the seizure of a commercial ship on April 22, 2026.
Dramatic video broadcast on Iranian state TV purportedly shows Iranian forces seizing two commercial ships.In the footage, speed boats are seen racing toward the massive vessels, MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas, which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy accused of "attempting to secretly exit the Strait of Hormuz."
Masked soldiers are seen climbing up to the deck of one of the ships while brandishing long guns.
Iran State Media - PHOTO: A still from a video released by Iranian state media outlets purportedly shows the seizure of a commercial ship on April 22, 2026.
Both vessels were transferred to Iranian territorial waters "in order to examine the cargo and documents," the IRGC Navy said.ABC News verified with satellite imagery that the two vessels were near one another early Wednesday morning off the coast of Iran.
Apr 22, 6:24 PMSenate fails to advance Iran war powers resolution for 5th time
The Senate rejected an Iran war powers resolution for the fifth time on Wednesday. The resolution, which needed 51 votes to advance, failed by a vote of 46-51. As with previous votes, Sen. Rand Paul was the lone Republican to vote for the resolution and Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote against it. Democrats have vowed to continually bring up war power resolutions that direct the "removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress" as long as the conflict continues. -ABC News' Allison Pecorin
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Apr 22, 4:16 PMTrump has 'not set a deadline' for Iran talks, proposal, White House says
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there is no set deadline for the ceasefire with Iran that was extended by President Donald Trump on Tuesday and that any reports that Trump had set a three to five day timeline for a unified peace proposal from Iran are "not true." "I'm not going to set a timetable for the president. He has not done that, and I won't. I know there's been some anonymous, sourced reporting that there was maybe a three to five day deadline. That is not true. The president has not set a deadline himself," Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. Leavitt placed blame on Iran over the fact that a peace deal has not been finalized but also suggested that Trump has given Iranian leaders flexibility on coming up with a proposal. "The president chose to extend the ceasefire because it's Iran who needs to get their acts together," she said.
Apr 22, 4:00 PMCENTOM says 29 vessels turned back, denies ships have evaded blockade
U.S. Central Command said 29 ships have been turned back or returned to Iranian ports as part of the U.S. blockade. CENTCOM also pushed back on reports that other ships were able to evade the blockade and called those reports inaccurate. But, acknowledge that one ship, the Dorena, is currently under escort by a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean "after previously attempting to violate the blockade." That ship is included among the 29 turned around ships.
Apr 22, 1:49 PMIran has 'thousands' of missiles and drones left
The Defense Intelligence Agency chief told lawmakers that Iran still has an enormous stockpile of munitions, even after the constant bombardment throughout the war until the ceasefire.
“Iran retains thousands of missiles and one-way attack UAVs that can threaten U.S. and partner forces throughout the region, despite degradations to its capabilities from both attrition and expenditure,” Marine Lt. Gen. James Adams, told lawmakers last week.
Erik Marmor/Getty Images - PHOTO: Remnants of an Iranian missile are pictured near the border between the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syria, April 9, 2026.
He added that Iran’s conventional military remains hampered by aging equipment and limited training, likely pushing Tehran to lean even harder into asymmetric tactics. That includes the kind of low-cost drone threats now looming over the Strait of Hormuz, a reminder that Iran can still create outsized disruption through cheap tools.
Those tactics also include cyberattacks.
“Before the current conflict, Iran largely refrained from cyberattacks against the United States, except for a handful of low level disruptive attacks,” Adams said. “However, on 11 March, we observed Iran’s first destructive cyberattack against a U.S. company since 2014, when Iranian cyberattacks conducted a data-deletion attack against a U.S. medical company. Iran almost certainly will continue using cyberattack.”
Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/Shutterstock - PHOTO: Iranians walk past a poster of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a street in Tehran, Iran, April 22, 2026.
Adams was likely referring to when an Iranian-linked group hacked Stryker, a Michigan-based medical company. The day after the cyber-attack, Stryker pushed out a statement urging its tools were safe, including the Mako Surgical Robot, a robotic arm that assists in joint replacement surgeries and the LIFEPAK 35, a life support monitor/defibrillator.
Earlier this month, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that Iran-linked cyber groups had targeted systems tied to local municipalities, as well as water and energy networks. In an advisory, the agency said organizations across multiple critical infrastructure sectors had suffered disruptions through “malicious interactions with the project files” and the manipulation of data.
Iran’s defense budget last year was $16.8 billion, which is about 4.2% of its GDP, according to Adams.
-ABC News' Steve Beynon
Apr 22, 1:40 PMIranian official calls blockade 'breach of the ceasefire'Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf criticized the U.S. blockade on Iran calling it "hostage-taking of the world's economy" and said a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is "impossible," in a post on X Wednesday. "A complete ceasefire only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime blockade and the hostage-taking of the world’s economy, and if the Zionist warmongering across all fronts is halted; reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such a flagrant breach of the ceasefire," Ghalibaf said.
US Central Command/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: US forces patrol the Arabian Sea near the Touska, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, April 20, 2026.
"They did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying. The only way forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation," Ghalibaf said.
Apr 22, 12:47 PMGraham says blockade will stay in place, even expand globally
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he spoke with President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Wednesday morning about the “way forward” in Iran.Graham said that he expects the blockade of Iranian ports to stay in place and even expand, saying "it could become global soon” unless Iran “shows a commitment to change their ways."Graham was not clear about where this blockade would expand and what the U.S. is specifically asking the Iranians to commit to in terms of "changing their ways.""I had a very good call this morning with @POTUS and @SecWar Pete Hegseth about the way forward regarding the Iran conflict," Graham said in a post on X Wednesday."I not only expect this blockade to stay in place until Iran shows a commitment to change their ways, I expect the blockade will be growing and that it could become global soon,” he said.Graham also issued a warning to other countries amid threats of a global blockade, saying that any nation "assisting or thinking about assisting the Iranian regime in distributing its oil," will do so "at your own peril."
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Source: “AOL Breaking”
