Zachary LeemanApr 18th, 2026, 2:53 pm

MS NOW contributor Inzamam Rashid reported on Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz has been hit with “absolute chaos and complete disruption” as Iran has fired on multiple vessels.

Rashid reported from Dubai after Alex Witt announced there was “chaos unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz.”

President Donald Trump announced this week that the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply moves through, was now open, but reports quickly indicated that ships were being targeted by Iranians.

Mohammad B. Ghalibaf, Iran’s speaker of Parliament, announced on Saturday that the Strait is closed due to the United States continuing its “blockade.”

Rahid reported on multiple incidents of ships being targeted after Trump’s announcement.

Radhid reported:

There’s absolute chaos and complete disruption in the Strait of Hormuz today. And there has been throughout the whole day today because, as you said this morning, it was open. There were ships passing through, probably the most number of ships that we’ve seen pass through the Straight of Hormuz ever since this war began seven weeks ago. And then now, of course, with Iran shutting down the Strait, it’s essentially put those shutters right down again. And we are seeing ships making u-turns and return back to anchoring in those waters. And we’ve seen some danger on the waters today as well. Three separate incidents, and two particular attacks towards vessels in the water by the Iranian military. The first one, Iranian gunboats heading towards an Indian vessel, an Indian tanker, which was fired towards by the Iranian military. And then a separate attack on yet another Indian container ship this time was also targeted and there was damage on that ship. So all of these issues in the Strait of Hormuz will clearly have an impact on peace negotiations between the US and Iran, because we know the Strait of Hormuz was a huge sticking point in the conversations that JD Vance had when he visited Pakistan.

Trump said on Saturday morning as reports broke about the attacks that things were “working out well” with Iran as the war continues.

“We have very good conversations going on. It’s working out very well. They got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years. Nobody ever took them on. We took them,” he said, adding, “they wanted to close up the strait again, you know, as they’ve been doing for years, and they can’t blackmail us.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!