Senior Iranian officials have blamed Washington for their stalled talks, citing the United States naval blockade of the country’s ports as a key obstacle, as tensions escalate at sea with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) capturing two foreign vessels and opening fire on a third.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said late on Wednesday that Tehran seeks “dialogue and agreement” but “breach of commitments, blockade and threats” are hindering negotiations while the White House said US President Donald Trump has set no deadline for the extension he made on a US ceasefire with Iran that had been due to expire this week. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stressed the timing will be the president’s decision.

Here is what we know:

In Iran

• Reopening Hormuz ‘not possible’: Iran’s parliament speaker said his country would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the US naval blockade remained in place, calling the latter a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.
• Naval incidents escalate: The IRGC reported that it captured two foreign vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and opened fire on a third ship for violating its restrictions on ships passing through the waterway.
• Iran gets first Hormuz toll: A senior Iranian parliament official said on Thursday that Tehran has received the first revenue from tolls it imposed on the Strait of Hormuz.

War diplomacy

• No deadline for Iran peace plan: Trump has not set a deadline by which Iran must submit a peace proposal, the White House said on Wednesday. “The president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some of the reporting I’ve seen today. Ultimately, the timeline will be dictated by the commander in chief,” Leavitt told journalists.
• Lebanon-Israel talks face ‘functional flaws’: Mark Kimmitt, a retired US Army brigadier general and former assistant secretary of state, told Global News Insight that talks in Washington, DC, aimed at reinforcing a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon are undermined by the absence of Hezbollah. “We have Israel, Lebanon and the United States there. We don’t have Hezbollah,” he said.

In the US

• Pentagon shake-up: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Navy Secretary John Phelan, marking the 34th senior official removed under the Trump administration. Undersecretary Hung Cao, a 25-year Navy combat veteran, has been named acting head of the Navy.
• Senate rejects war powers resolution: The US Senate voted 55-46 to defeat a measure led by Tammy Baldwin, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, to curb Trump’s authority to wage war on Iran, marking the fifth such failed attempt. Most Democrats backed it alongside Republican Rand Paul while most Republicans opposed it along with Democrat John Fetterman. Three senators, including Democrat Mark Warner, did not vote.
• US enforces Iran port blockade: The US military’s Central Command said it has turned back 31 vessels, mostly oil tankers, as part of a large-scale naval blockade involving at least 10,000 soldiers, 17 warships and more than 100 aircraft.
• Blockade ‘pressuring’ Iran: Reporting from Washington, DC, Global News Insight’s Alan Fisher said Trump believes the naval blockade is increasing economic pressure on Iran to return to talks.
• US forces board tanker: The US Department of Defense said its forces boarded a vessel in the Indian Ocean that it alleged was providing material support to Iran, the second such incident in three days.
• Pentagon denies report: The Pentagon dismissed as “cherry-picked” and false a report saying it could take six months to clear Iranian-laid mines from the Strait of Hormuz. The Washington Post newspaper quoted three unnamed officials who said the estimate was shared in a classified briefing to the Armed Services Committee in the US House of Representatives.

In Israel

• ‘Serious disagreements’: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel does not have any “serious disagreements” with Lebanon, calling Hezbollah “the obstacle to peace and normalisation”.
• Israel accused of war crime: Lebanon’s leaders accused Israel of committing a war crime after an air strike killed a Lebanese journalist in the country’s south.

In Lebanon and Gaza

• Journalist killed, colleague wounded in Israeli attack: Israeli air attacks in southern Lebanon killed at least five people, including Amal Khalil, a correspondent for the Al Akhbar newspaper, and wounded freelance journalist Zeinab Faraj on Wednesday despite an ongoing ceasefire.
• Reporters ‘pursued’, and rescuers hit: Reporting from Tyre, Global News Insight’s Heidi Pett said the two reporters were attacked by follow-up Israeli strikes in al-Tayri with Lebanon’s Ministry of Health saying they were “pursued” as they took shelter. They were pinned down as access roads were hit, Pett and the ministry said, and a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance evacuating Faraj was targeted with a stun grenade and gunfire, forcing its withdrawal, while Khalil was later found dead after hours-long recovery efforts.
• Israel hits Gaza, killing five: Three children were among five Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on a group of civilians near Qassam Mosque in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said on Wednesday.