Saturday News Updates: The Strait Is Closed - 4/18/26

Iran shuts down the Strait of Hormuz, diplomacy collapses, and Trump holds a press conference with Joe Rogan instead of answering questions about any of it.

Hi all, Ben here. It’s Saturday, and if you’ve been following our coverage this week, none of what’s happening right now should surprise you. First, let’s go over the top stories we’re tracking. We are making today’s update available to all our subscribers with no paywall. Thank you to our paid subscribers for supporting our work. If you are able to join us and haven’t yet, you can do so by hitting the button below.

Top stories we’re tracking

• Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, turns back 20+ vessels, and fires on ships

• Iran-U.S. nuclear talks collapse — no next round scheduled

• Trump’s “deal in a day or two” claim ages extremely poorly

• NY Post claims “Iran surrenders Hormuz” when the opposite happened

• Treasury quietly extends Russian oil license two days after Bessent said it wouldn’t

• Pope Leo XIV clarifies his peace message was written before Trump made it about himself

• Trump holds Oval Office presser with Joe Rogan, bans press questions

• Federal judge blocks $6.2B Nexstar-Tegna media merger

• Alito and Thomas confirm no plans to retire this year

• The Atlantic reports alarming concerns about FBI Director Kash Patel’s conduct

Ok, let’s dive in.

The Strait of Hormuz is closed

This is the big one. Iran has reimposed full restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most consequential chokepoints for global oil supply on the planet. Iranian naval forces have now turned back at least 20 vessels attempting to cross today alone, with the total, including vessels turned back by what the U.S. is calling a blockade, sitting at 23. We may be witnessing the first complete shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz in history.

Iran says they had agreed “in good faith” to allow a controlled number of oil tankers and commercial vessels to transit the strait. The U.S., in their view, broke that agreement. Iran is now calling American conduct outright piracy. Their VHF broadcast leaves nothing ambiguous: no vessel of any type or nationality is permitted to pass. Control of the strait, Tehran says, has returned to its previous state, with stricter military oversight now in place.

And it’s not just bureaucratic posturing. At least two ships have already reported being fired upon by Iranian boats in waters between Qeshm and Larak islands. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency confirmed a tanker was approached by two Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboats that fired on the vessel. A container ship was also struck by gunfire. These are active hostile incidents on an international waterway. Trump lied again. Shocker.

Iran’s Supreme Leader also posted to Telegram today saying the country’s navy is prepared to inflict what he called “new bitter defeats on its enemies.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s embassy and consulate social media accounts are back at it, mocking Trump and the United States. The embassy in Ghana posted this statement:

“Dear World,

The Strait of Hormuz is under new management, until the war fully ends.

Passage: fees apply (security & environmental upkeep).

Blockade: ceasefire broken.

Hostility: no passage, not even a sliver.

Thank you for your understanding.

- Iran’s Supreme National Security Council”

The Iran Embassy in South Africa wrote: “Know that our finger is on the trigger. If they betray the negotiations for the third time, the U.S. and the Israeli regimes, and the facilitators of their military aggression will suffer a blow they cannot imagine.”

The Iranian Consulate in Hyderabad responded directly to a White House post of Trump. The White House, above an image of Trump, wrote, “LET HIM COOK.” In response, the consulate called Trump “the most cooked president ever.”

---

Side note: I’m often asked where I go to do research for my reporting. One of the main research tools I use is called Ground News. Ground News shows me how stories are being covered from different political perspectives, and it highlights “blindspots” where only left-wing or right-wing media is covering a story.

Ground News has been a great sponsor of our YouTube channel and podcast, and they’re now sponsoring this post as well. I worked out a deal with them: if you go to ground.news/meidas, you can get 40% off Ground News’ top-tier Vantage plan, which gives you unlimited access to all the research tools I use.

Ground News is subscriber-funded, so they don’t rely on ads that could introduce bias. By subscribing, you support both our channel and their independent team working to keep the media transparent.

Now back to my report.

---

The talks have fallen apart

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed that Pakistan-mediated talks between the U.S. and Iran last week ended without any conclusion. There is no next round scheduled. Tehran says negotiations will only resume when, and this is a direct message they’ve sent through their Pakistani intermediary, the U.S. stops making “excessive demands” and accepts the realities on the ground.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister said Trump “talks too much,” that he says contradictory things within the same statement, and that the U.S. approach of pressure, force, and escalation is not and cannot be a path to any solution.

Which brings me to something our editor in chief Ron Filipkowski wrote earlier today. The single worst tactic you can use when negotiating with a regime like Iran is to try to publicly humiliate them while negotiations are still happening. Any diplomat with real experience knows this. What you cannot do, if you actually want a deal, is perform for your base and your allies at the expense of the negotiating table. That’s exactly what Trump keeps doing.

And last night, Trump told a reporter that if there’s no deal by Wednesday, the U.S. would “have to start dropping bombs again.” Earlier, he had told reporters Iran “agreed to everything.” Just blatant lies. The reporters who ran with the “agreed to everything” line without verification again laundered a lie through the credibility of their institutions. We will not do that here. We look at the actual data.

Now, per the Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. military is preparing in coming days to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters, according to U.S. officials, expanding its naval crackdown beyond the Middle East.”

Weird. We were told the war was over.

The NY Post cover tells you everything you need to know about MAGA media

This morning’s NY Post front page read: “Setting Them Strait — Iran Surrenders Hormuz, and Trump Says Peace Deal Close.”

The paper had barely even hit newsstands before the whole charade blew up. It wasn’t true yesterday, and it is especially not true today. Iran has not surrendered the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has strengthened its control over it and shut it back down. Ships are being turned back and fired upon. Talks have collapsed. There is no peace deal. There was never a peace deal. The NY Post’s cover wasn’t just misleading was describing events that are the precise opposite of what is actually happening. This is what MAGA propaganda looks like…an entirely parallel reality, printed and sold at newsstands, designed to make the base feel good about a situation that is actively deteriorating.

We told you what was happening. Days ago, when Trump was claiming everything was settled, we told you the evidence pointed elsewhere. Today that evidence is ships being fired upon and a strait in full lockdown.

Watch what they do, not what they say

Here’s a perfect encapsulation of the Trump administration’s approach to governing. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated two days ago, publicly, that the U.S. would not renew sanctions waivers on Russian or Iranian oil. Two days later, Treasury quietly extended a license allowing Russian oil transactions for another month.

No announcement. No press conference. No explanation. Just a quiet reversal via a press release late on a Friday night.

The Pope, the press conference, and the Rogan show

Pope Leo XIV addressed the situation with his usual grace today, clarifying that the peace message he delivered earlier this week was written two weeks ago, well before Trump decided to make it about himself. The Pope said it was not his intention to debate the president, and expressed some evident frustration that a call for peace had been turned into a culture-war moment.

It’s telling, though. When the Pope speaks about warmongers, about people who invoke God’s name to do harm, about tyrants — and the President of the United States takes it personally — that says a whole lot.

Meanwhile, Trump this morning held a press conference in the Oval Office alongside Joe Rogan about… psychedelic drugs? He is desperately trying to control the narrative and redirect attention anywhere else. He then kicked the press out before questions.

Other stories you should know about

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna, after eight states and DirecTV sued to stop it on antitrust grounds. This is significant for anyone who cares about media consolidation and the right-wing takeover of local media. An appeal is virtually certain, and this is far from over, but a win for now.

On the Supreme Court: Sources close to both Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas confirm that neither plans to retire this year. That means Trump is not getting a fourth Supreme Court nomination before the midterms. Alito is 76, Thomas is 77. Both remain core members of the court’s conservative majority.

And finally, the Atlantic published a deeply concerning report on FBI Director Kash Patel. Multiple current and former officials describe a pattern of excessive drinking to the point of obvious intoxication, missed meetings, and periods where Patel was simply unreachable during critical moments. In one instance, he reportedly told allies he had been fired over a routine IT issue, causing widespread confusion across the bureau and calls to the White House. He had not been fired. Morale inside the FBI is described as collapsing, and officials are raising national security concerns about the leadership. Patel denies everything and says he’ll sue. If he does, the discovery will surely be revealing.

That’s where things stand this as of now. As always, we cover what’s actually happening, not the version those in power want to tell you. We’ll see you soon.