Iran live updates: US blockade of Iran's Strait of Hormuz ports to begin Monday

CENTCOM said it will block all traffic 'entering and exiting Iranian ports.'

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Last updated: Monday, April 13, 2026 6:12PM GMT
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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 and government sites.

Trump set a deadline for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face broad strikes on its critical infrastructure. Hours before the deadline expired, Trump said he had agreed to suspend planned bombing for two weeks if Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi then said that "safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he supported the ceasefire with Iran, but that Lebanon -- where intense Israeli strikes continued -- was not covered by the agreement, despite Iranian protests.

ByMary Bruce ABCNews logo
Apr 06, 2026, 7:34 PM GMT

Trump: Planning 4-hour attack Tuesday night if deal not reached

President Donald Trump is threatening to destroy all of Iran's bridges and power plants in a four-hour blitz attack on Tuesday night if the countries don't agree to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET.

"We have a plan because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12:00 tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again," Trump said. "I mean, complete demolition by 12:00, and it will happen over a period of four hours if we want it to. We don't want that to happen."

A man stands with an Iranian national flag along an intersection at Valiasr Square in Tehran, April 6, 2026.
A man stands with an Iranian national flag along an intersection at Valiasr Square in Tehran, April 6, 2026.

The president stressed that any deal must include reopening the Strait of Hormuz, saying, "We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything else."

He wouldn't discuss specifics of ceasefire negotiations but said, "we have a active, willing participant on the other side."

Trump has sent mixed messages for weeks, saying the war with Iran is winding down while also threatening more attacks. Asked which one it is, Trump replied, "I can't tell you. I don't know."

"Depends what they do," Trump said, before repeating his threat to send Iran back to the "stone ages."

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Apr 06, 2026, 6:32 PM GMT

Trump says Iranian people have asked US to 'keep bombing'

ABC News' Mary Bruce asked President Donald Trump at a White House briefing about whether some in Iran might welcome U.S. attacks on the country's infrastructure.

Pedestrians look at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday.
Pedestrians look at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday.

"Why would they want you to blow up their infrastructure?" she asked.

Trump responded that the Iranians "would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom."

He said the Iranian people have asked the U.S. to "please keep bombing."

"These are people that are living where the bombs are exploding," Trump said. "And when we leave and we're not hitting those areas, they're saying, 'Please come back, come back, come back.'"

"All I can tell you is they want freedom," he said. "They have lived in a world that you know nothing about. It's a violent, horrible world where if you protest, you are shot."

ByMariam Khan ABCNews logo
Apr 06, 2026, 6:17 PM GMT

CIA director says Iran 'humiliated' by successful rescue mission

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the U.S. deployed both human assets and "exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses" to locate the weapons system officer during a rescue operation in Iran this weekend.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks with reporters during a news conference with President Donald Trump Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks with reporters during a news conference with President Donald Trump Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington.

Ratcliffe said some of the unique capabilities the CIA used are ones that only the president can deploy. He would not publicly divulge what they were.

"At the president's direction, we deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses to a daunting challenge comparable to hunting for a single ... grain of sand in the middle of a desert," Ratcliffe said.

"This was also a race against the clock, as it was critical that we locate the downed aviator as quickly as possible, while at the same time keeping our enemies misdirected," he said.

Ratcliffe also said U.S. "intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission."

A U.S. fighter jet with two airmen on board was shot down over Iran on Friday, and the jet's pilot was rescued the same day. The U.S. launched a search for the second missing airman, who was trapped in the "treacherous mountains of Iran" with the Iranian military closing in, President Donald Trump said. That airman was rescued on Sunday.

ByFritz Farrow, Allie Pecorin and Emily Chang ABCNews logo
Apr 06, 2026, 6:08 PM GMT

Trump rails against alleged media leak about downed fighter jet

During a briefing at the White House, President Donald Trump railed against an alleged leak to the media about the downed U.S. fighter jet, threatening to have the journalist jailed.

"They put this mission at great risk. They put that man at great risk, and they put the hundreds of people that went in looking for him, because everyone now knows that we're going in," Trump claimed.

The president emphasized the need to uncover whomever "leaked" such information.

"We have to find that leaker because that's a sick person. Probably didn't realize the extent of how bad it was. I can't imagine that the person did. But we're going to find out. It's national security, and the person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn't say, and that doesn't last long," Trump said.