President Donald Trump announced a “major combat operation” against Iran on February 28, with joint US-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
After declaring a two-week ceasefire, US-Iran talks in Pakistan earlier this month failed to reach a peace deal.
Trump later announced an open-ended extension of the ceasefire and continued embargo until Iran submits a proposal and concludes discussions “one way or another.”
Latest developments
April 28, 10:08 am
Trump says, Iran has informed the US that it is ‘in a state of collapse’.
“Iran has just informed us that they are in a ‘state of collapse’,” President Donald Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday, without providing evidence.
Trump said that Iran has asked the US to remove the blockade of the waterway in the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.
Trump added that Iran’s alleged request came as the country was trying to “figure out the state of its leadership,” which he said he “believes.”[s] They will be able to!”
Trump has repeatedly conveyed mixed messages about Iran’s leadership, insisting that there has been regime change, while also claiming that the US does not know who Iran’s leaders are.
-ABC News’ Emily Chang
April 28, 6:41 am
Rubio says competing ‘radical’ factions in Iran complicate talks
Speaking to Fox News in an interview published Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that competing factions of “radicals” in Iran are complicating peace talks with the United States.
“They are all fundamentalists in Iran. But there are fundamentalists who understand that they have to run a country and an economy and there are fundamentalists who are completely inspired by theology,” Rubio said.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: A man carries an Iranian flag in Sadeghya Square in Tehran on April 27, 2026.
“Not only fanatics inspired by scriptures [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] officials, but obviously the supreme leader and the council that surrounds him,” Rubio continued.
“And then you’ve got the political class — the secretary of state, the president, the speaker, the majlis, these guys — they’re bigots, too, but they also understand that the country has to have an economy. The people have to eat. They have to figure out a way to pay their government,” Rubio said.
“Unfortunately, the bigots, with their apocalyptic vision of the future, have the ultimate power in that country,” Rubio added.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti
April 28, 6:29 am
The US has not achieved any of its goals in Iran, Argachi says
Speaking to reporters in St. Petersburg during a visit to Russia, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US had not achieved any of its goals and was therefore asking for talks – a request Araghchi said Iran was “considering.”
Regarding bilateral Iranian-Russian relations, Araghchi said the two countries are “strategic partners” and cooperation between them will continue.
Dmitry Lovetsky/Pool/AFP via Getty Images – Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attend talks at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library on April 27, 2026 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti
April 28, 5:22 am
Centcom said on Sunday it intercepted a ship trying to reach Iran
US Central Command said in a post to X on Monday that the guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta intercepted the M/T Stream vessel “after it attempted to approach an Iranian port on Sunday.”
April 28, 4:48 am
Satellite images show ships seized by Iran at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz
Iran has moved two seized cargo ships – MSC Francesca and Epaminondas – to an anchorage near Hormuz Island in the northern part of the Iranian coastal strait, according to satellite imagery taken on April 27.
Copernicus Sentinel 2 – Photo: This satellite image shows MSC Francesca and Epminondas at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz on April 27, 2026.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the seizure of MSC Francesca and Epaminondas in the eastern part of the Strait of Hormuz last week, accusing the ships of “covertly trying to exit the Strait of Hormuz” without coordinating with Tehran.
The satellite images were taken by the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel 2 satellite.
—ABC News’ Victoria Beule
April 28, 3:28 am
Bess predicts Iranian oil pumping ‘will soon collapse’
Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said in a post to X on Monday that Iran’s oil industry is “boiling” under the pressure of the US naval blockade and predicted that the country’s ability to pump oil “will soon collapse.”
“While surviving IRGC leaders are trapped like drowned rats in sewer pipes, Iran’s creaking oil industry has begun to shut down production due to US sanctions,” Besant wrote.
“Pumping will collapse soon. Gasoline shortage in Iran!” He added.
-/MARINETRAFFIC.COM/AFP via Getty – PHOTO: This screen grab from a screen recording of the Marine Traffic website on April 21, 2026 shows a data visualization of maritime traffic in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman from April 18 to April 20.
April 28, 3:05 am
Rubio rejected the Iran peace proposal and focused on the nuclear issue
Secretary Marco Rubio suggested in an interview with Fox News on Monday that Iran’s peace offer falls short of US terms to end the war, now entering its third month.
Two officials familiar with the matter told ABC News that the Iranian proposal includes loosening Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the U.S. blockade. Talks on Iran’s nuclear program would be pushed back to an unspecified future date, Tehran’s proposal suggested.
However, Rubio said that the nuclear issue is at the heart of the US position. “The nuclear question is the reason we’re in this in the first place,” Rubio said.
Vahid Salemi/AP – Photo: Iranian worshipers perform Friday prayers under portraits of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military officers killed during the US-Israeli campaign, at the University of Tehran in Tehran, April 24, 2026.
Rubio also said the U.S. would not allow Tehran to maintain its control over the Strait of Hormuz or continue to charge tolls on shipping through it.
“They are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate trying to normalize them, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use international waterways and how much you pay to use them,” he said.
Rubio underscored U.S. concerns about the regime’s ability to agree to a deal and the status of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
“One of the obstacles here is that our negotiators are not just negotiating with the Iranians. Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians about what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they’re willing to do, even who they’re willing to meet with,” Rubio said.
Asked if he believed Mojtaba Khamenei was still alive, Rubio replied, “We have indications that he is. Obviously they claim that he is. We have no evidence that he is not.”
“I think the question between alive and power is two different questions. You can be alive — but I think the unanswered questions here is does he have the same credibility as his father,” Rubio said.
Rubio also suggested that the Iranian proposal may not have the support of all factions with influence in Tehran. “I think there are still questions about whether the person who submitted it had the authority to submit that proposal,” he said.
However, Rubio said he believes the Iranians are “serious about getting themselves out of this mess.”
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
April 27, 11:26 AM
Israel, Hezbollah accuse each other of trade strikes, ceasefire violations
The Israeli military said on Monday it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley region further northeast.
The Israeli military has also accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire, with Hezbollah firing several drones at IDF forces in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah issued two statements referring to the attacks as a response to Israel’s own violations of the ceasefire. Hezbollah said the drone targeted an Israeli tank and an Israeli bulldozer “while it was demolishing houses in the town of Bint Jabeel,” which was “in response to the Israeli enemy’s violation of the ceasefire and the demolition of houses in villages in southern Lebanon.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beule
April 27, 9:56 am
US has no strategy, entire nation humiliated by Iran: German Chancellor
Speaking to students on Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran had “no strategy” with the US.
“I can’t see what strategic exit the Americans are opting for now, especially since the Iranians are apparently negotiating very tactfully — or, rather, not negotiating very tactfully — and letting the Americans travel to Islamabad. [in Pakistan] To leave again without any consequences,” Marz said. “The entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian state leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”
“We as Europeans have offered – and said we are ready – to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the end of the negotiations,” he continued. “… We can help there but the fighting needs to end first. And at the moment I don’t see how that can be realized in the near future because the Iranians are clearly stronger than an idea and the Americans clearly don’t seem to have a negotiating strategy.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beule
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