{"id":208164,"date":"2026-04-19T05:15:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-news-at-a-glance-president-struggles-to-reopen-strait-as-iran-rejects-us-blockade-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T05:15:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:15:46","slug":"trump-news-at-a-glance-president-struggles-to-reopen-strait-as-iran-rejects-us-blockade-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-news-at-a-glance-president-struggles-to-reopen-strait-as-iran-rejects-us-blockade-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump news at a glance: president struggles to reopen strait as Iran rejects US blockade &#8211; The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump\u2019s earlier tone of triumph with the reopening of key waterway falls flat \u2013 key US politics stories from 18 April at a glance<br \/>Donald Trump hopes of extricating himself from his war on Iran were dealt another blow on Saturday after Tehran closed the strait of Hormuz again after the president said the US would not end its blockade of Iranian ports.<br \/>Earlier, Trump said in a social media post: \u201cThe naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran, only, until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete,\u201d adding that \u201cthis process should go very quickly\u201d.<br \/>On Saturday, Tehran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/18\/iran-closes-strait-of-hormuz-again-until-us-lifts-blockade\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">reversed course on opening the waterway vital to oil shipments<\/a>, and a UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait on Saturday. Reuters reported separately that an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway.<br \/>Trump reportedly convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis around the strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran, according to reporting from Axios. A senior US official said that unless there is a breakthrough in peace talks, it appears that the war could reopen within days.<br \/>It marks a swift turnaround from the previous day. In a barrage of social media posts, Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Iran had agreed never to close the strategic waterway again, hailing \u201cA GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!\u201d<br \/>He later said that \u201cPresident Xi is very happy that the strait of Hormuz is open and\/or rapidly opening\u201d, and suggested it augured well for their upcoming summit in China.<br \/>A set of mismanaged and premature media announcements by Donald Trump and Tehran has led to the collapse of progress towards a peace settlement between Iran and the US, writes Patrick Wintour.<br \/>The recent missteps ended with Iran saying it would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/18\/iran-closes-strait-of-hormuz-again-until-us-lifts-blockade\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">reinstate a complete block on the movement of commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz<\/a> and that it would not allow any of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be exported out of the country.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/18\/donald-trump-tehran-war-mismanaged-posts-progress-peace\" data-link-name=\"in body link\"><sub class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Read the full story<\/sub><\/a><br \/>Lance Johnson voted for Donald Trump three times. Now he is feeling buyer\u2019s remorse, writes David Smith. \u201cI haven\u2019t been too happy with the third time around,\u201d said the 47-year-old contractor, sitting at a bar in Crescent Springs, Kentucky. \u201cWe\u2019re supposed to not start any new wars. Prices were supposed to come down. We were promised a lot of things and we\u2019re not getting them.\u201d<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/ng-interactive\/2026\/apr\/18\/donald-trump-popularity-iran-christianity-economy\" data-link-name=\"in body link\"><sub class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Read the full story<\/sub><\/a><br \/>Democratic senator Jon Ossoff mocked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s rosy predictions on Iran and tore into what he called the unprecedented corruption of the president\u2019s family at a campaign rally in Augusta, Georgia.<br \/>While Ossoff is running for re-election in November, he trained most of his fire on the president, and the vice-president, amid mounting speculation that the Democrat could launch a bid for his party\u2019s nomination for the presidency in 2028.<br \/>The senator began <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/4Gde5aRyOhY?si=fLGXntpIj9IUr7ca&amp;t=191\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">his remarks<\/a> by making fun of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jake__traylor\/status\/2044176275359838346\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">the paltry turnout<\/a> for an event headlined by JD Vance on Tuesday, and then argued that Trump\u2019s decision to attack Iran would be paid for by young Americans deployed to the Middle East and cuts to services for their families back home.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/18\/jon-ossoff-fiery-speech-presidential-rumors\" data-link-name=\"in body link\"><sub class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Read the full story<\/sub><\/a><br \/>The FBI director, Kash Patel, is denying allegations detailed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/2026\/04\/kash-patel-fbi-director-drinking-absences\/686839\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">new report<\/a> that he drinks to excess and has been unreachable at times during his tenure in office. Patel threatened to sue the Atlantic over the story published on Friday, which detailed his alleged heavy drinking and how members of his security detail have on multiple occasions had difficulty waking him.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/18\/fbi-kash-patel-excess-drinking\" data-link-name=\"in body link\"><sub class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Read the full story<\/sub><\/a><br \/>Donald Trump on Saturday announced reforms intended to speed up access to medical research and treatment based on psychedelic drugs. The president signed an executive order directing the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite review of drugs such as ibogaine, which US military veteran groups have said can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/18\/trump-psychedelic-drugs-executive-order\" data-link-name=\"in body link\"><sub class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Read the full story<\/sub><\/a><br \/>From January to September 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/ice-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">ICE<\/a>) deported 174 people who were renewing their protections from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, the head of the agency has said in a letter reviewed by the Guardian.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/18\/ice-deportations-dreamers-daca\" data-link-name=\"in body link\"><sub class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Read the full story<\/sub><\/a><br \/><strong>A chaotic scene unfolded Saturday at a beagle breeding and biomedical research facility in Wisconsin<\/strong> as about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/18\/wisconsin-animal-activists-beagles\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">1,000 animal rights activists seeking to breach the property were rebuffed with rubber bullets<\/a> and pepper spray by law enforcement.<br \/><strong>A United Airlines flight bound for New York City was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/18\/united-plane-emergency-landing-pittsburgh\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">forced to land and evacuate in Pittsburgh<\/a><\/strong> on Saturday morning after crew members reported a \u201cpossible security issue\u201d, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said.<br \/><strong>Two US army soldiers have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/18\/army-soldiers-brown-bear-attack-alaska\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">injured after encountering a brown bear<\/a> in a mountainous training area in Anchorage<\/strong>, Alaska, the military said on Friday.<br \/>Catching up?<em> Here\u2019s what happened <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/17\/trump-administration-news-updates-today\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">on 17 April 2026<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMi0AFBVV95cUxPOXczbXRZT0hZZGpDTjMtZmNCcUsxdnEwMTRlQkZjcWpFYWJhdXpjd0Q1VmFVcGJsdDhNSnEtMFFUWGU1VGRrUUhscFk0aWNoQThoMGtqQjBoeTV0R01FSDNKU2MySmpsQzYyeUVJaVJ5RzJLY0tnQTFoeFBJSkdGeks1dmxGU1pkeWRORHVnRXNmVUNRdkNzRVNpVUZ2VmZvUFNCQUROY0ZVQTZ5dzZlbUZlZHNCTHNfdWM1UjhtcmoxWWZSYl9IdzliRUtzOVJZ?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump\u2019s earlier tone of triumph with the reopening of key waterway falls flat \u2013 key US politics stories from 18 April at a glanceDonald Trump hopes of extricating himself from his war on Iran were dealt another blow on Saturday after Tehran closed the strait of Hormuz again after the president said the US [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-208164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}