The United Kingdom on Monday (April 20) called for a lasting settlement to ensure freedom of navigation and a toll-free Strait of Hormuz as the U.S.-Iran ceasefire hung in the balance.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper arrived in Japan for the final leg of what has been branded as an “intensified shuttle diplomacy tour” to advance coordination with key allies on shared geopolitical, economic, and energy security priorities.

During the six-day tour spanning Europe and West Asia, the British minister held in-person talks with Foreign Ministers from 11 countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, and Ukraine, concluding with a meeting with the Japanese Foreign Minister for the annual Strategic Dialogue in Tokyo.

- PTI

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on Monday (April 20,) said Tehran did not have plans yet to attend any talks with the United States.

He did not rule out Iran attending talks. Authorities in Islamabad had been making preparations for another round that could potentially happen there this week.

“So far, while I am here, we have no plans for the next round of negotiations and no decision has been made in this regard,” Mr. Baghaei said during a news conference. 

- AP

Iran on Monday (April 20, 2026) offered a new death toll for the war with Israel and the United States, with its Forensic Chief saying at least 3,375 people had been killed in the conflict.

The figure came from Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organisation. Mr. Masjedi, quoted by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency and other outlets on Monday (April 20, 2026), said only four of the dead remain unidentified.

His comments did not break down casualties among civilians and security forces; instead, he just said that 2,875 were male and 496 were female. Mr. Masjedi said 383 of the dead were children, 18 years old and under.

- AP

President Donald Trump said the U.S. forcibly seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to get around a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday (April 20), the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports began last week.

He said a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room” and that U.S. Marines had custody of the vessel, named Touska, and were “seeing what’s on board!” Iran’s joint military command said Tehran will respond soon and called the U.S. seizure an act of piracy.

- AP

Iran executed two men convicted ‌of cooperating with Israel’s Mossad ⁠intelligence service and planning attacks inside the ‌country, the judiciary’s news outlet ‌Mizan reported ‌on ⁠Sunday (April 19).

Mizan said ⁠the two, identified as Mohammad Masoum Shahi and Hamed ‌Validi, were accused of belonging to a ‌spy network linked to Mossad and had received ⁠training abroad, including in Iraq’s Kurdistan ‌region.

They had been convicted on charges including “enmity against God” and cooperation with ‌hostile groups, and their death sentences were upheld ⁠by the Supreme Court ⁠before being carried out, Mizan ‌reported.

-Reuters

Israeli military on ‌Monday (April 20) warned residents in southern ⁠Lebanon not to move south ‌of a specified line ‌of ‌villages ⁠or approach ⁠areas near the Litani River, saying its ‌forces remain deployed in the area during ‌a ceasefire due to what it ⁠described as continued Hezbollah activity.

In ‌a statement, military spokesperson Avichay Adraee also urged civilians ‌not to return to multiple border villages ⁠until further notice, ⁠citing security risks. 

- Reuters

Oil prices rose in early trading on Sunday (April 19, 2026) as a standoff between Iran and the U.S. prevented tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway that is crucial to global energy supplies.

The price of U.S. crude oil increased 6.4% to $87.88 per barrel after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 6.5% to $96.25 per barrel.

The market reaction followed more than two days of growing hopes and dashed expectations involving the strait. Iran, which effectively controls the passage, said Friday that it would fully reopen the passage off its coast to commercial traffic. Crude prices plunged more than 9% on the news.

- AP

Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, said global fuel prices could stabilise only if economic and military pressures on Iranian oil exports end.

“One cannot restrict Iran’s oil exports while expecting free security for others,” Mr. Aref wrote on X. “The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone.” Oil prices rose in early trading Sunday as a standoff between Iran and the US prevented tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway that is crucial to global energy supplies.

The price of U.S. crude oil increased 6.4% to $87.88 per barrel after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 6.5 per cent to $96.25 per barrel.

- AP

Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, during his telephonic conversation with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, reaffirmed the country’s “honest” and “sincere” efforts to advance regional peace and security.

During the approximately 45-minute conversation on Sunday (April 19, 2026), the two leaders engaged in detailed exchanges on the current regional situation, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

Prime Minister Sharif thanked President Pezeshkian and the Iranian leadership for sending their high-powered delegation, led by Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, for talks in Islamabad on April 11 and 12.

- PTI

Oil prices rebounded more than 6% on Monday (April 20, 2026) after tumbling more than 9% ⁠on Friday (April 17, 2026) on news the Strait of Hormuz is closed again after both the U.S. and Iran said the other party had ‌violated their ceasefire deal by attacking ships over the weekend.

Brent crude futures jumped $6.11, or 6.76%, to $96.49 ‌a barrel by 2327 GMT and U.S. West ‌Texas ⁠Intermediate was at $90.38 a barrel, up $6.53, or 7.79%.

The ⁠U.S. military had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday, while Iran said it would not participate ‌in a second round of peace talks despite Trump’s threat of renewed airstrikes.

- Reuters

Over a feverish few days of diplomacy, Pakistan’s military and civilian politicians successfully divided West Asia between them to push for a second round of U.S.-Iran peace talks expected to take place in Islamabad this week.

The country’s powerful military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, headed to Tehran on Wednesday for what would become a three-day trip, where Iranian leaders said he carried US proposals for a second round of peace talks.

Simultaneously, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his foreign minister conducted a whirlwind diplomatic tour across regional allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

The twin trips illustrate the coordination at play in what is often described as a “hybrid regime” in Pakistan, and Munir’s central role in the negotiating process.

- AFP

More than 20 vessels passed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday (April 19, 2026), data from shipping analytics ‌firm Kpler showed, the highest number of ships crossing ⁠the waterway since March 1.

Among the vessels that made it through ‌on Saturday (April 18, 2026), five of them last loaded cargoes from Iran ‌ranging from oil products to metals. ‌Three ⁠of them are liquefied ⁠petroleum gas carriers with one each heading to China and India.

Indian-flagged Desh Garima loaded with about 780,000 barrels of UAE’s Das crude is heading ⁠to Sri Lanka.

- Reuters