{"id":79997,"date":"2026-04-20T05:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/seized-ships-naval-attacks-push-us-iran-truce-to-brink\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T05:47:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:47:38","slug":"seized-ships-naval-attacks-push-us-iran-truce-to-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/seized-ships-naval-attacks-push-us-iran-truce-to-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"Seized ships, naval attacks push US-Iran truce to brink"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108288736\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>A ship waits to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following a two-week temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran in Oman on April 8, 2026, which is conditional on the opening of the strait. <\/p>\n<p>Wedding JH Alasar | Anadolu | getty images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Fifty days after the US-Israel war with Iran, tensions rose again after clashes in the Gulf caused a prolonged disruption to shipping and cast doubt on the fragile ceasefire that was set to expire this week.  <\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz fully open to commercial traffic, causing crude oil prices to fall more than 10%. By Saturday, hopes of the artery fully opening were quickly dashed as Tehran reopened the chokepoint after President Donald Trump refused to end the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. <\/p>\n<p>After a slight uptick in transit efforts on Saturday, shipping traffic once again came to a halt with ships in the gulf <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/iran\/live-blog\/live-updates-iran-says-strait-hormuz-reverted-strict-control-blames-us-rcna340767\">catch fire<\/a> Midway and being forced to retreat.  <\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, the US Navy opened fire and seized an Iranian container ship in the Gulf of Oman. Trump called Iran&#8217;s actions over the weekend a &#8220;complete violation&#8221; of the ceasefire and threatened to attack Iranian power plants and bridges if Tehran refused to compromise. <\/p>\n<p>For markets, it was a reminder of the weakness of the two-week ceasefire, and an agreement that could have brought a permanent end to the war has still not been reached. <\/p>\n<p>US stock futures fell while crude oil prices rose as the US and Iran edged closer to renewed conflict. <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-7\">West Texas Intermediate Futures<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>    It jumped more than 6% to $89 a barrel shortly after midnight Monday, while the international benchmark <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-8\">brent<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>    It rose 5.6% to $95.50 a barrel.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed InlineImage-inlineInfographic\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108274282\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imagePlaceholder\" style=\"padding-bottom:74.62686567164178%\">\n<div><button class=\"InlineImage-closeEnlargedImage\"><svg width=\"20\" height=\"20\" viewbox=\"0 0 20 20\" fill=\"#002F6C\" aria-labelledby=\"title desc\" role=\"img\" focusable=\"false\" data-analytic-id=\"expand-icon\" class=\"InlineImage-background\"><title>zoom in icon<\/title><desc>arrows point outward<\/desc><circle cx=\"10\" cy=\"10\" r=\"10\" fill=\"white\" stroke=\"#002F6C\"\/><path d=\"M9.20185 10.7982C8.96049 10.5568 8.57037 10.5568 8.32901 10.7982L5.67901 13.4482V11.2346C5.67901 10.8938 5.40308 10.6173 5.06173 10.6173C4.72037 10.6173 4.44444 10.8938 4.44444 11.2346V14.9383C4.44444 15.279 4.72037 15.5556 5.06173 15.5556H8.76543C9.10679 15.5556 9.38271 15.279 9.38271 14.9383C9.38271 14.5975 9.10679 14.321 8.76543 14.321H6.55185L9.20185 11.671C9.44321 11.4296 9.44321 11.0395 9.20185 10.7982ZM14.9383 4.44446H11.2346C10.8932 4.44446 10.6173 4.721 10.6173 5.06174C10.6173 5.40248 10.8932 5.67903 11.2346 5.67903H13.4481L10.7981 8.32903C10.5568 8.57038 10.5568 8.96051 10.7981 9.20187C10.9185 9.32224 11.0765 9.38273 11.2346 9.38273C11.3926 9.38273 11.5506 9.32224 11.671 9.20187L14.321 6.55187V8.76545C14.321 9.10619 14.5969 9.38273 14.9383 9.38273C15.2796 9.38273 15.5556 9.10619 15.5556 8.76545V5.06174C15.5556 4.721 15.2796 4.44446 14.9383 4.44446Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>\u201cOn Saturday we had the most violent day in the strait since the beginning of this crisis, and things don&#8217;t look to be getting better,\u201d said Rory Johnston, founder of Commodity Context. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While we keep getting these selloffs and looking like we&#8217;re finally going to get it, football \u2014 Lucy pulls it off \u2014 and we&#8217;re back where we started,&#8221; Johnston told CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk Box Asia&#8221; on Monday.  <\/p>\n<p>Johnson, who is also a lecturer at the University of Toronto&#8217;s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, said, &#8220;The Strait is still not flowing, and 13 million barrels a day of production are shut in. We are losing it every day.&#8221;   <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">best realistic results<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Much will depend on whether the US and Iran meet for a second round of peace talks in Pakistan later this week as the ceasefire continues to hold. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/04\/16\/iran-war-oil-price-strait-hormuz.html\">Due to expire on Tuesday.  <\/p>\n<p>Trump said American and Iranian negotiators would resume talks in Islamabad on Monday. However, Iran has denied that it will attend the meeting, citing Washington&#8217;s &#8220;excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, frequent changes in stance&#8221; and the ongoing blockade as a violation of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p>The first round of talks on April 12 between Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi failed to reach an agreement. Washington reportedly made a proposal <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2026\/04\/13\/world\/iran-war-trump-news\/heres-the-latest?smid=url-share\">20 year pause on Iranian uranium<\/a> Enrichment, a request rejected by Iranian leaders, requested 5 years. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote data-test=\"Pullquote\">\n<div class=\"Pullquote-pullquote\" style=\"border-top-color:#002f6c\">\n<div>\n<p>Unless the US negotiating team gets rid of the misconception that military victory equates to strategic dominance, we will not be able to reach a solution.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Pullquote-sourceWrapper\">\n<p>alan eyre<\/p>\n<p>Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Alan Ayer, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute and former member of the US team that negotiated the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, said the underlying differences between Washington and Tehran go deeper than the current standoff. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The American side is not really focused on negotiations. They are waiting for Iran to surrender,&#8221; Ayer said. &#8220;Until the US negotiating team gets rid of the misconception that military victory equates to strategic dominance, we will not be able to reach a solution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Eyre warned that the latest flashpoints risk escalating the conflict in the near term. &#8220;There is a tense trend here where both sides could escalate and go back to a shooting war, which no one wants.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While the possibility of a productive round of talks in Islamabad remains, &#8220;unfortunately it is more likely to go the other way &#8211; a resumption of hostilities,&#8221; Ayer said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">high stakes gambling <\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The economic cost of the conflict is rising as the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 which normally carries about a fifth of global oil supplies \u2013 has been effectively closed for almost two months. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This crisis is one of lost time and lost production,&#8221; Johnson said, estimating supply disruptions at about 13 million barrels of crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids per day. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cumulative impact has already reached over half a billion barrels,\u201d he said, warning that even an imminent deal announcement would not immediately mitigate the damage. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108293733\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108293733\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000410186\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><span\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Even if a deal is reached, experts warn it could <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/04\/09\/tankers-return-to-hormuz-ceasefire-disruption-to-last-weeks.html\">It took months to recover supplies lost due to the shutdown in recent weeks, keeping oil prices high for a longer period of time. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If we really opened up, we would see an immediate $10 to $20 per barrel drop because of the speculative hot money. But at the end of the day, we would dump on the first day and then find ourselves further up \u2014 maybe into the $80s and $90s \u2014 to reflect the ongoing (oil) shortage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Crude oil prices have surged more than 30% since the war began, with Brent briefly hitting above $110 a barrel for the first time in nearly four years, before hopes of a breakthrough diminished, according to LSEG data. <\/p>\n<p>According to Kpler data, more than 500 million barrels of crude oil and condensate have been taken out of the global market \u2013 the largest energy supply disruption in modern history. <\/p>\n<p>Despite the severity of the energy disruption, US equity markets have remained largely resilient, as investors have viewed the conflict as a setback that will be resolved relatively quickly.  <\/p>\n<p>However, Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research at Mizuho Bank, cautioned that the optimism may be premature. \u201cWe cannot get prematurely excited about any signed agreement, because the long-term adverse effects mean we cannot get out of it quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>International Monetary Fund gave this warning on Tuesday <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/en\/blogs\/articles\/2026\/04\/14\/war-darkens-global-economic-outlook-and-reshapes-policy-priorities\">Global growth will inevitably suffer a setback<\/a> Even if the ceasefire remains in place, citing uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz as continuing to drag on, increasing energy costs and inflation. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s clear we&#8217;re not going back to a Goldilocks scenario,&#8221; said Brian Arce, portfolio manager at Ford Asset Management, referring to a scenario of stable growth and low inflation. The longer the strait remains closed, the greater the threat to the global economy, he said, although the actual extent of the damage could change &#8220;on a daily and weekly basis.&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticleBody-googlePreferredSourceContainer\" data-module=\"GooglePreferredSource\" data-id=\"RegularArticle-GooglePreferredSource-5\">Choose CNBC as your favorite source on Google and never miss a moment of the most trusted name in business news.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A ship waits to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following a two-week temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran in Oman on April 8, 2026, which is conditional on the opening of the strait. Wedding JH Alasar | Anadolu | getty images Fifty days after the US-Israel war with Iran, tensions rose again after<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[313,2708,5365,2057,6834,2596,17937,6417],"class_list":{"0":"post-79997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-news","8":"tag-attacks","9":"tag-brink","10":"tag-naval","11":"tag-push","12":"tag-seized","13":"tag-ships","14":"tag-truce","15":"tag-usiran"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80002,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79997\/revisions\/80002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}