UPDATED NOW: With chaos growing, Donald Trump sent his real estate agents to Islamabad in an effort at renewed peace talks. He says if there’s no deal this week he’ll start destroying Iran’s civilian targets, writes Joe Lauria.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. (White House /Daniel Took)
Saturday, April 18 to Monday, April 20
Updated to report: Iran will attend talks; Ghalibaf defended Iran taking part in the resumed talks against hardliners in Iran who he accused of plotting to remove him from office; Vance is going on Tuesday; U.S. marines are searching 5,000 containers on seized Iranian ship; Iranian president speaks of distrust of U.S.; Trump says Israel didn’t make him attack Iran.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Donald Trump said in a flurry of posts Sunday that the U.S. has seized an Iranian ship in the Oman Sea “blowing a hole in the engine room;” that he’s sent negotiators to Islamabad to resume peace talks, which Iran may not attend; and that he will commit the war crime of destroying Iran’s civilian infrastructure if they don’t make a deal this week.
All in a night’s time on Truth Social. By one count there were 47 posts in one hour.
“Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them. The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
This is how Iran’s Press TV reported it as tensions heat up in a fraying ceasefire:
“The United States has carried out a flagrant act of aggression on an Iranian merchant vessel in the waters of the Sea of Oman, deploying its terrorist marines onto the ship’s deck and disabling its navigation systems.
The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters on Sunday night condemned the criminal operation by the US Navy.
‘The aggressor United States violated the ceasefire and committed maritime piracy by firing at an Iranian merchant ship in the waters of the Sea of Oman and landing a number of its terrorist marines on the deck of the vessel, disabling its navigation system,’ Lieutenant-Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari said.
‘We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to this armed piracy and retaliation by the US army,’ he added.”
U.S. marines were searching as many as 5,000 containers on the Iranian cargo ship, a U.S. military official said Monday, according to The New York Times.
Realtors to the Rescue
Meanwhile, in the midst of this growing chaos Trump is sending his real estate agents and his vice president to Islamabad to resume peace talks. Iran will send a team after it said it wouldn’t show up unless the U.S. lifted the blockade.
Besides the fact that buying or selling a New York apartment building is no preparation for negotiating the end of the biggest Middle East war in decades, the Iranians despise Witkoff & Kushner because they twice deceived the Iranians into thinking that talks would continue while the U.S. and Israel then launched sneak attacks on Iran.
Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, who is going to the talks, said Iran does not trust the U.S., calling Trump a “master of lying and psychological warfare.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X that “unconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials carry a bitter message” and that “Iranians do not submit to force.” He said there was “deep historical mistrust” between the countries.
Split in Iran
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf sharply criticized opponents of a potential agreement with the United States in a meeting with advisers, Iran International has learned.
Ghalibaf, who also led Iran’s team in the latest negotiating with Washington, described… pic.twitter.com/BKi6PDrGdC
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 20, 2026
In a televised interview, Ghalibaf defended Iran taking part in the resumed talks against hardliners in Iran who are opposed and accused him of “betrayal” and hinted at a “coup” over the negotiations in Islamabad.
Iran International, an anti-government outlet, reported:
“Ghalibaf, who also led Iran’s team in the latest negotiating with Washington, described figures including Saeed Jalili, a member of Iran’s National Security Council, and hardline Iranian MP Amirhossein Sabeti as extremist militia-like actors who would destroy Iran. He said the camp was using state television and mobilizing hardline supporters to intensify opposition to negotiations and a possible deal with the United States. Ghalibaf also voiced concern about being removed from the speakership and about Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi being pushed out of office.”
The Tasnim News Agency, owned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), first revealed what can only be called a split between the hardline IRGC and the more conciliatory Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, which the blogger Simplicius highlighted in a weekend post.
The split became evident over a tweet by Araghchi on Friday saying that after the ceasefire with Lebanon the Strait of Hormuz was now “completely open.” A day later the IRGC said it was closed again until the U.S. lifts its blockade.
On X, Tasnim very frankly reported the split, scolding the foreign minister in public:
“Bad and Incomplete Tweet by Araghchi and Incorrect Ambiguity-Creation Regarding the Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz Our country’s Foreign Minister wrote in a tweet just minutes ago that, following the ceasefire in Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz will be fully open for the passage of commercial ships for the remaining duration of the ceasefire period.
This tweet by Araghchi, which was published without the necessary and sufficient explanations, created various ambiguities regarding the conditions for passage, details, and mechanisms of passage, and led to a great deal of criticism.
While various conditions have been considered for this matter, one of the most important among them is the complete oversight by Iran’s armed forces over the passage of ships, and this passage shall be deemed null and void in the event of the continuation of the claimed naval blockade.
Publishing this tweet, without any verbal explanation or at least sufficient written explanations, constitutes a complete lack of tact in communication. It is obvious that the Foreign Ministry itself must either reconsider this type of communication or the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council must fulfill its duty.
And while providing proper notifications in its own domain, it should create a more cohesive and better mechanism for notifications from some institutions, including the Foreign Ministry, and control them. The tweets that officials publish—even if they write them in English—are not seen only by foreign officials!
The great nation of Iran, too, is fully monitoring the scene in accordance with its revolutionary duty. Any attempt to create anxiety or despair among this divinely inspired nation constitutes political disobedience and disruption of national unity.”
‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’
Trump meanwhile threatened again to unleash hell on Iran’s civilian infrastructure if Witkoff & Kushner don’t get a deal this week. Trump wrote in the middle of the night:
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
“No more Mr. Nice Guy,” is a saying originated in a 1960 newspaper column by Walter Winchell as a humorous reference to Adolf Hitler’s response as the Soviets moved on Berlin.
On Monday, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” that the ceasefire with Iran would be renewed after it expires on Wednesday if there is no deal. Both sides ended the first round with no agreement on missiles and Iranian allies, but with a deal possible on the enrichment issue, Araghchi said.
Israel Didn’t Make Me Do It
Trump also wrote on Truth Social on Monday that Israel didn’t talk him into attacking Iran.
No War Crime
Trump’s U.N. ambassador, Mike Walz, went on the Sunday morning talk shows in the U.S. spewing nonsense about such threats of destroying bridges and power stations not being war crimes. He said:
“Just to get ahead of a lot of the critics and hand-wringing, throwing out irresponsible terms like ‘war crimes’, attacking, destroying infrastructure that has clearly and historically been used for dual military purposes is not a war crime. … And, by the way, bridges, power plants that are run by the IRGC, which runs the entire military, are absolute legitimate military targets, not only now, but have been historically. That is a false, fake and ridiculous notion that this is some type of war crime.”
Dual use of bridges perhaps if there was a ground war. What Walz doesn’t apparently understand, because it’s not allowed in the U.S., is that like the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the IRGC is allowed under the Iranian system to run businesses. It would be as if the Pentagon ran Con Edison electricity plants and the George Washington Bridge in New York City. Would Walz think that makes them legitimate targets for a foreign power to destroy?
The George Washington Bridge in New York City. (Acroterion/Wikimedia Commons)
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
“Dual use of bridges perhaps if there was a ground war” (FULL Context, above). What follows that is JOE LAURIA’s Bull’s-Eye! Absophknlutely, CRUCIAL, is Joe Lauria’s point, “The best indicator to predict future behavior is to look at the conduct of the entity in the past,” i.e., “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the IRGC is [ALLOWED] under the Iranian system [To Run Businesses]. It would be as if the Pentagon ran Con Edison electricity plants and the George Washington Bridge in New York City. Would Waltz think that makes them legitimate targets for a foreign power to destroy?
What “we”, New Mexico, know, is it doesn’t take a foreign power to monopolize & destroy the land, air, water, in the deserts, here; &, the deserts, far away. New Mexico knows “the largest “alternative asset manager” in the world, BLACKSTONE, announced, in June 2025, its plan to purchase New Mexico’s largest electric utility, Public Service Company of New Mexico’S (PNM’s) parent company, TXNM Energy, for $11.5 billion. The planned acquisition will require approval from state and federal utility regulators.
BLACKSTONE w/more than $1 Trillion, in assets under management, owns & invests in companies ranging from retail, restaurants & hotels to technology, energy, real estate & healthcare. Some Blackstone-owned companies that operate in New Mexico include the restaurant chain Jersey Mike’s, the hotel brand Hilton Worldwide and the medical staffing agency TeamHealth.
JULY 2, 2025, The Electric Company, PUBLIC SERVICE CO OF NM & BLACKSTONE Infra$tructure. The breadth of Blackstone’s business & investments in New Mexico isn’t totally clear, but the firm’s companies have made some big plans in recent years for hydrogen power, with a push by the Governor’s Office for hydrogen investments.
Blackstone’s record in New Mexico — pertinent to many in light of the planned utility takeover — includes some yet-to-be-seen hydrogen projects, as well as a run-in with the state treasurer in recent years over a child labor scandal that posed threats to the state’s investments. Amid controversy over the alternative fuel source — and with a lack of expected federal funding — the plans for the hydrogen projects have seen changes and uncertainty.”
… 1) “Coal-to-Blue-Hydrogen Plan.” One of Blackstone’s forays into energy in New Mexico — announced years ago — is a stalled hydrogen conversion project that appears all but certain to move forward. The governor’s (Michelle Lujan Grisham’s) push for a hydrogen hub has drawn skepticism from many environmentalists in the state who have cast blue hydrogen projects as expensive boondoggles likely to produce more emissions than traditional burning of fossil fuels.
…. 2) “Proposed Pipeline Controversy.” Another major Tallgrass project — through the company’s subsidiary GreenView — would construct a 200-mile pipeline across the Navajo Nation, from Shiprock to the other side of the reservation, north of Flagstaff, Arizona. The pipeline and what would go inside it have stirred some controversy in the region.
…. 3) “Power Line In The Works.” Another company backed partially by Blackstone — Invenergy — has announced plans to build a 400-mile, high-power electric transmission line across far Northern New Mexico. The North Path line was announced in 2023 after Invenergy signed onto an agreement with the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, a state entity that helps private developers in planning, financing and developing transmission and energy storage projects. Blackstone and TXNM Energy are planning to file their application to regulators for approval of the deal in the coming months.
UPDATE: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Feb. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — FERC Authorizes TXNM Energy Acquisition by Blackstone Infrastructure, Finds Transaction Consistent with Public Interest.”
….“We” the people, of New Mexico call BULL-$HIT!!! The owl asks, “WHO, cares?” The bird tweets, “Today, 2.20.26, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized the application for TXNM Energy (NYSE: TXNM) to be acquired by Blackstone Infrastructure.”
…p.s., 3.4.26, NM’s Republican’s, Steve Pearce’s, BLM nomination as the director of the Bureau of Land Management advances to Senate floor. (NOT, Good)!!! Timing of the full Senate vote is now in the hands of Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Pearce’s path to the nomination faced no shortage of dissent. Environmental groups have long fought with Pearce over his advocacy for the oil and gas industry. Senator Heinrich who locked arms w/Republicans locking in Mullins @ DHS; but, Heinrich voted against Pearce’s nomination. Obviously, Heinrich’s is one of NM’s f/up $enators.
Onward & Upwards!!!
* hxxps://www.taosnews.com/news/business/blackstone-bid-to-take-over-pnm-coincides-with-controversial-projects/article_82cf9e28-f61a-5606-9a86-cf0912ba0af5.html
* hxxps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ferc-authorizes-txnm-energy-acquisition-by-blackstone-infrastructure-finds-transaction-consistent-with-public-interest-302693942.html
* hxxps://www.abqjournal.com/news/pearces-blm-nomination-advances-to-senate-floor/2994089
The US is being led by a madman. There must a lot of madness in our country if we keep letting him do it. Are there no sane people here?
“DAYS 49-51;” &, ‘Ambition begets troubles’, i.e., “47 posts in one hour” later, “He says if there’s no deal this week he’ll start destroying Iran’s civilian targets,” writes Joe Lauria. No f/doubt, this is ‘a bridge too far:’ 1) “Trump sent his real estate agents and there’s No Love in Islamabad, for Kushner/Witkoff.
Onward & Upwards! Just another chance, for Just Dance Vance, to overreach & fail; 2) The Last Walz aka “Dirty Dancing” i.e.,”Threats of destroying bridges and power stations [NOT] being war crimes.” The ask, “Please, ICC, effect peace, “Book Em! Trump-Vance, Inc., A.S.A.P!”
Imo, Trump’s extreme, obsessive, compulsive, disorder is the O.C.D., to his A.C.E., in-the-hole, i.e., Aggressive Criminal Engagement. The typical scenario, Trump, his Dance team, the USG & Israel, try & prove they have a reason to be conducting an illegal trespass w/their WMDs & propaganda, a repugnant script, “CEASEFIRE”.
Obviously, rock’n an O.C.D., is debilitating! The Man-Child Beast aka POTUS, #47, cannot function, humanely. Considering, POTUS is a rabid, right-wing, rat-bastard, Republican & Israel’s heartless, soulless, money-making, genocidal war machine, a f/“Keyboard Warrior”; healing is more problematic.
However, *“You can’t just allow this kind of hostility or racism, to push” [plant, animal & human life] “against the wall, so that people believe that the Chinese, [Russian, the Arab States, Iran, Palestine] “government is cornered without any way to hit back. Whatever differences there are between China, [Russia, the Arab Staes, Iran, Palestine] and, the USG/Israel, we [NEED] to have [LEADERSHIP] and [STATESMANSHIP] with mature views of [ALL] sides to engage with each other.” Victor Gao, Director, China National Association of International Studies.
Temporary relief may come by performing a compulsive action; but, Trump’s OCD is lethal!!! No One Is Safe.
*4.29.21 “Reactions to Biden’s Speech in China” @ hxxps://time.com/5995109/biden-congress-speech-china/
* “A Bridge Too Far” by Cornelius Ryan, details the Allies’ disastrous attempts to capture German-controlled bridges in the Netherlands during World War II.
War crimes were committed by both sides in WWII but some were in defense. Is this a war where all actions are war crimes but only the winner get to forget. In this new world there are no winners and the cyber war has yet to fully kick in when no one can hide anywhere. When space war endangers all satellites for civil functioning as well as military and high tech resources are unable to be replaced. we are playing world roulette.
It still boggles my mind that a whole world of mostly sane people can’t find a way to stop this train wreck of a madman president and his incompetent administration from doing their worst to anyone they deem the enemy of their criminal enterprise. We all sit by and watch in horror as the death and destruction escalate. Yes, we demonstrate and call on our pathetic governments to intervene to no avail. It’s going to be up to us regular folks to straighten these moral cowards out about what is acceptable human behavior in the 21st century. Time’s a wastin’. Global strike!
Please provide a link regarding your update that Iran has reversed course and will meet with the Americans again in Islamabad. My heart sank when I read your words! So, I checked both Tasnim News and Press TV and they are reporting that Iran will NOT attend. I watched the Minister of Foreign Affairs give a press release to that effect. Its currently 1:10 pm (PST).
hxxps://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/world/middleeast/iran-us-talks.html
hxxps://www.iranintl.com/en/202604199471
hxxps://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-israel-us-strait-hormuz-2026
For the life of me, I can’t understand why Iran sends negotiators. There is a 0% chance of a favorable agreement, barely greater odds for any kind of end to the violence, and high probability of negotiators and their families being murdered. I don’t understand the game of playing along with perpetual naivete.
Iran sends negotiators to demonstrate that it is an adult in the room and that it understands diplomacy. Not to signal that the US in any way behaves in an adult or diplomatic manner, but rather to signal the contrast between the US and Iran.
That’s right Duane. And, by attending, Iran cannot be accused of refusing to negotiate. There is zero chance of an agreement, but it is necessary to go through the motions.
Dementia Don is fighting a 3000 year old civilization that invented Chess. The word Checkmate means comes from Shah Mat, or the King is Dead. No Kings, Donnie!
Said to have begun in India but next appeared in Iran where it was further developed.
Edward Curtin writes (Trump, Insanity, and Obedience):
“Trump gave the orders, but he did not launch those missiles. Nor did Netanyahu massacre Palestinians with his own hands. These fat boy killers prefer to keep their dainty hands clean of blood – to have their functionaries do the killing. I think of other functionaries and the names they gave to the atomic bombs they dropped on Japan: Fat Man and Little Boy. And we talk about sanity.”
Bob Dylan wrote (With God on Our Side):
“So now as I’m leavin’, I’m weary as hell
The confusion I’m feelin’ ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head, and they fall to the floor
That if God’s on our side, he’ll stop the next war.”
Please deliver an urgent, emphatic, powerful message to Fat Boy Killers – Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu:
“God will stop your next war.”
Peace.
Unfortunately, cruelty, like morality and beauty, lie soullessly in the eyes of the holders
Iran should send as official negotiators a goat and a donkey.
Given the way the Axis of Epstein kills negotiators and potential negotiators, this comment might be regarded as cruelty to animals. Please do not put these animals at risk of pain, torture and death at the hands of the Americans. Instead, just send a couple of doggie bags containing the appropriate waste products. And Iran should probably include a note explaining the message behind this message, as Trump’s errand boys do not seem to be very bright. They might miss the meaning of the two bags of animal waste products.
So great is our wise leaders’ love of peace!
He’s one tough talkin Dude.
Boy, am I glad he’s all yours USia.
Sorry, Johnny, economic failures and pandemics know no borders. The ‘tough talkin dude’ has infected the geopolitical space far beyond the US.
????
Trump is sending his real estate agents … Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Says it all.
Everything is a deal for Trump Inc, who has privatised the White House and turned it into the head office of his mediocre business enterprises.
He couldn’t make money legitimately, so he acquired the presidency and installed his gophers.
If I understand it, every business Trump has been involved in has failed and/or gone bankrupt. As such, that appears to be the future Trump is leading America to. Keep hoarding all those greenbacks, pretty soon they’ll only be of use as toilet paper or kindling.