Reuters reported on April 18 that Iran began shelling ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The head of the White House convened an emergency meeting to discuss the resumption of the crisis in the Middle East. As Axios writes, citing American officials, it was attended by J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon head Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The media interlocutor said that the crisis resumed after the parties made progress on the issue of enriching uranium and its reserves in Iran.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said Iran was “getting a little nice… they wanted to close the strait again,” and later added that the nation “can't blackmail us.”
Trump said the United States was still talking to Iran and said he would know by the end of the day whether the two sides were going to move forward with an agreement.
A senior US official stressed that if there is no “breakthrough” in negotiations soon, the war could resume in the coming days, Axios adds.
Context
Trump is known for his passion for golf – this is one of his favorite hobbies, which he regularly devotes time to. As Bild reported, last year, on the eve of a meeting scheduled for the evening of December 28 with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Trump went golfing to “knock out the disappointment.”
