Iran war live: Tehran slams US ‘piracy’ after ship seizure, vows response

Iran has issued a new directive authorising the sale or exchange of government-owned buildings that were damaged during the war, according to the Fars News Agency.

The directive allows government agencies to determine the fate of government buildings that are either deemed impossible to reconstruct or have suffered extensive damage.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has repatriated the remains of Florian Montorio to France.

UNIFIL Head of Mission Major-General Diodato Abagnara paid tribute to Montorio, saying his service “lives on in what we do next as soldiers, as peacekeepers”.

“You gave everything you had for the peace in this land. You have all our respect,” he added.

According to UNIFIL, Montorio was killed by small arms fire from a non-state actor. French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed Hezbollah for the incident, but the Lebanese armed group has denied responsibility.

Montorio is the fourth peacekeeper killed since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel resumed on March 2.

Today, UNIFIL paid tribute to Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio, the peacekeeper who passed away yesterday in a tragic incident while carrying out his duties in Ghanduriyah, south Lebanon.

Press Release: https://t.co/LzOUveQrM7 pic.twitter.com/gulWXxP7OM

— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) April 19, 2026

The French shipping company CMA CGM has confirmed that one of its vessels was subjected to “warning shots” in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and said that no crew members were injured in the incident.

The AFP news agency, citing the International Maritime Organization (IMO), identified the vessel as the Everglades and said it sustained damage during the encounter. But it did not provide specific details on the extent of the impact.

The vessel is one of several ships that reported coming under gunfire from Iranian forces after Tehran reversed course on its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It said the closure was in response to the US’s continued blockade of Iranian ports.

The US military says that before Sunday’s incident, it had turned back some 25 Iranian-flagged vessels trying to either leave or dock in Iranian ports as part of the blockade.

The US said that, according to the crew of the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance, the crew of the Touska vessel refused over a six-hour period to stop its transit, allegedly heading towards the port at Bandar Abbas.

After six hours, according to CENTCOM, the US forces gave a verbal warning to the crew of the Touska vessel to evacuate the engine room, after which the Spruance’s crew then fired on the engine room, disabling the ship, and allowing US marines to board the vessel and take custody of it.

One thing that has not been noted in the official comments from CENTCOM is whether anybody on board the Touska vessel or anyone from the US military was injured during this incident.

In any case, it is certainly an escalation of the US enforcement of its blockade on shipping traffic in and out of Iran.

Iran’s participation in the next round of negotiations in Islamabad is conditional upon the US lifting the naval blockade on its ports.

This is what a well-informed source told Al Jazeera, and it’s also the same position taken by Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan.

The foreign minister and prime minister of Pakistan called Iran’s president and foreign minister to try to convince them to take part in the next round of negotiations. The Supreme National Security Council of Iran also convened to decide on this.

However, Iran is sceptical, and at the same time, concerned that this is not going to end with the deal they want to have.

First of all, they are concerned that this could be a deal that would be followed by several months of negotiations, and then the sanctions will not be lifted, and the frozen money will not be unfrozen.

At the same time, there are concerns that this could be a deception. This is what sources here in Iran are talking about, referring to what happened in the two previous rounds of negotiations that were followed by an Israeli and an Israeli-American war.

US President Donald Trump has said US forces have seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to get past his country’s naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said the ship, named Touska, was warned by a US Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman to stop, but its “crew refused to listen”.

He added that the US Navy “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room” and that US Marines had custody of the vessel, and were “seeing what’s on board”.

Watch below:

• The US Navy has seized the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Touska in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting warnings of retaliation from Tehran.
• The attack comes hours after US President Donald Trump announced he was sending his team to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, for possible talks with Iran.
• But an Iranian source has told Al Jazeera that Iran will not be taking part because it believes it is being deceived by the US, and that the two countries are actually on the verge of another escalation.
• Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has assured Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Islamabad remains committed to trying to broker peace.
• In Lebanon, the 10-day ceasefire with Israel holds, with thousands of people continuing to return to check on their destroyed homes in the south.
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says his government will ask the European Union to end its association agreement with Israel over violations of international law.

Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the ceasefire in the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

Stay with us for the latest news and analysis from across the Middle East and beyond.

You can find our updates from Sunday, April 19, here.