UR MAG

Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea

WASHINGTON/CAIRO, April 20 (Reuters) - Concerns grew on Monday that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran might collapse after the U.S. said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Iran vowed to retaliate.

Efforts to build a more lasting ‌peace in the region also appeared under threat, as Iran said it would not participate in a second round of negotiations that the U.S. had hoped to ‌kick off before the ceasefire expires.

The U.S. has maintained a blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran has lifted and then reimposed its own blockade on marine traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly ​one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

The U.S. military said it fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship headed towards Iran's Bandar Abbas port on Sunday after a six-hour standoff, disabling its engines.

U.S. marines then rappelled from helicopters onto the vessel, U.S. Central Command said.

"We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what's on board!" President Trump wrote on social media.

Iran's military said the ship had been traveling from China. "We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy by the U.S. military," a military spokesperson ‌said, according to state media.

Oil prices jumped more than 5% and ⁠stock markets wobbled as traders fretted that the ceasefire would collapse and traffic in and out of the Gulf would remain at a bare minimum.

IRAN REJECTS PEACE TALKS

Iranian state media reported that Tehran had rejected new peace talks, citing the ongoing blockade, threatening rhetoric, and Washington's shifting positions ⁠and "excessive demands."

"One cannot restrict Iran's oil exports while expecting free security for others," Iran's First Vice President Mohammadreza Aref wrote on social media. "The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone."

Trump earlier warned Iran that the U.S. would destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran if Tehran rejected his terms, continuing a recent pattern of such ​threats.

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Iran ​has said that if the United States were to attack its civilian infrastructure it would hit power stations ​and desalination plants of Gulf Arab neighbors.

PREPARING FOR TALKS THAT MIGHT ‌NOT HAPPEN

Trump said his envoys would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening, one day before a two-week ceasefire ends.

A White House official told Reuters the U.S. delegation would be headed by Vice President JD Vance, who led the war's first peace talks a week ago, and also include Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. But Trump told ABC News and MS Now that Vance would not go.

Pakistan, which has served as the main mediator, was still gearing up for the talks on Monday.

Nearly 20,000 police, paramilitary and army personnel have been deployed across the capital Islamabad, a government and a security official said, adding that the area around the venue for the second round of talks had been vacated.

Public transport across the ‌city has also been suspended.

"Special security measures have been taken for all of our special guests," Pakistan's ​Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement, adding that he had briefed U.S. ambassador Natalie Baker on ​the security measures for the talks.

Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who has led ​Iran's side in the talks, had earlier said the two sides had made progress but were still far apart on nuclear issues and the ‌Strait.

European allies, repeatedly criticized by Trump for not aiding his war effort, ​worry that Washington's negotiating team is pushing for ​a swift, superficial deal that would require months or years of technically complex follow‑on talks.

Now in its eighth week, the war has created the most severe shock to global energy supplies in history, sending oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of the strait.

Thousands of people have been killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on ​Iran and in an Israeli invasion of Lebanon conducted in parallel ‌since the war began on February 28.

Iran responded to the attacks with missiles and drones against Israel and nearby Arab countries that host U.S. bases. The Islamic ​Republic 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.

(Reporting ​Reuters bureaus; Writing by Andy Sullivan and John Geddie; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Alexandra Hudson)

Shamim Mafi, 44, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on April 18, said Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.

According to a criminal complaint, Mafi is accused of having “conspired with others to perpetrate an unlawful scheme to broker the sale of weapons, weapons components, and ammunition on behalf of the Government of Iran,” violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act gives the president “broad authority to regulate a variety of economic transactions following a declaration of national emergency,” according to theCongressional Research Service. PresidentDonald Trumphas used thislaw to impose sweeping tariffs.

See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.
Bahrain
Smoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Syria
Syrian children stand on the wreckage of an Iranian rocket that was reportedly intercepted by Israeli forces in the southern countryside of Quneitra, near the Golan Heights, close to the town of Ghadir al-Bustan.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Iraq
A plume of smoke rises near Erbil International Airport in Erbil on March 1, 2026. Loud explosions were heard early on March 1 near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Iraq
Members and officers from the Iraqi Interior Ministry's Explosives Directorate inspect the fuel tank of a rocket that landed in a rural village in the Siyahi area near the city of Hilla in the central Babil province on March 1, 2026. Iraq, which has recently regained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the U.S. and Iran, warned that it did not want to be dragged into the war that started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Qatar
A prayer appealing to God for protection is projected on the dome of al-Hazm shopping mall in Doha on March 1, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Qatar
Motorists drive past a plume of smoke rising from a reported Iranian strike in the industrial district of Doha on March 1, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Bahrain
A building that was damaged by an Iranian drone attack, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Manama, Bahrain, March 1, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Saudi Arabia
The empty terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh is pictured on March 1, 2026. Global airlines cancelled flights across the Middle East after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, plunging the region into a new conflict. In Saudi Arabia, Iranian missiles targeting Riyadh's international airport and the Prince Sultan Airbase, which houses U.S. military personnel, were intercepted, a Gulf source briefed on the matter told AFP.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> United Arab Emirates
A food delivery bike drive close to a plume of smoke rising from the Zayed Port following a reported Iranian strike in Abu Dhabi on March 1, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> United Arab Emirates
An oil tanker is pictured offshore in Dubai on March 1, 2026. Attacks have damaged tankers, and many ship owners, oil majors and trading houses suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Oman
Smoke billows from an oil tanker under U.S. sanctions, that was hit off Oman's Musandam peninsula, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters on March 1, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Kuwait
Smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the area where the U.S. Embassy is located in Kuwait City on March 2, 2026. Black smoke was seen rising from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City on March 2 after the latest volley of Iranian strikes, an AFP correspondent saw,

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Saudi Arabia
A satellite image shows efforts to control a fire as smoke rises in the Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia after a drone attack, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia March 2, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Turkey
People make their way after crossing from Iran into Turkey at the Kapikoy Border Gate in eastern Van province,Turkey, March 2, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> United Arab Emirates
Delivery persons ride motorcycles along a road as a tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone on March 3, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> United Arab Emirates
Pieces of missiles and drones recovered after Iran's strikes are displayed during a press briefing by the UAE government held in Abu Dhabi on March 3, 2026. Iran stepped up its attacks on economic targets and US missions across the Middle East on March 3, as the US president warned it was "too late" for the Islamic republic to seek talks to escape the war. As drones and missiles crashed into oil facilities and U.S. embassies in the Gulf, Washington's ally Israel bombarded targets in Iran and pushed troops deeper into Lebanon to battle the Tehran-backed militia Hezbollah.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Lebanon
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 3, 2026. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on March 3, including warning residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of an imminent operation.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Lebanon
Emergency personnel work at the site of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 3, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Lebanon
Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Jamaa Islamiya offices in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Sidon on March 3, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> United Arab Emirates
Tankers are seen off the coast of the Fujairah, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

See how the Iran war’s fallout is hitting the Middle East

See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of thewar launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.BahrainSmoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026.

According to the complaint, Mafi, with the assistance of an unnamed co-conspirator, “brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to the Sudanese Ministry of Defense.” In addition, they “brokered the sale of millions of rounds of ammunition from Iran to Sudan.”

Mafi is accused of brokering weapons deals on behalf of Iran through a company she owns with a co-conspirator as recent as early 2025, according to the complaint. That includes one contract valued at over 60 million euros for a sale of Iranian-made drones to Sudan’s ministry of defense, according to the complaint. Other items that Mafi brokered, or attempted to broker, included “bombs” and “assault weapons,” according to the complaint.

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Essayli said that Mafi is expected to make her first court appearance on April 20. It’s not immediately clear who represents Mafi.

According to the complaint, Mafi was born in Iran but is a lawful permanent resident of the United States and maintains a residence in Woodland Hills of Los Angeles.

She frequently traveled to and from Los Angeles, and Mafi “only spends part of her time” in the U.S., according to the complaint.

Mafi faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted, according to Essayli.

Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her atpbarraza@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Los Angeles woman arrested, accused of 'trafficking arms' for Iran

Rockets head coach Ime Udoka revealed Durant's status as the Rockets practiced Monday afternoon.

Durant did not play in Game 1 on Saturday because of a right knee contusion and the Rockets fell 107-98 while shooting 37.6% from the floor.

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In his first season with the Rockets, Durant averaged 26.0 points with 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 78 games, while being named an All-Star for the 16th time in his career. Houston finished 52-30 in the regular season matching its record from the 2024-25 campaign.

Durant, 37, has averaged 27.1 points with 6.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 1,201 career games (1,198 starts) for five different organizations, going back to his rookie season of 2007-08 with the Seattle SuperSonics.

In 170 career playoff games, the two-time champion with the Golden State Warriors, has averaged 29.3 points with 7.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

--Field Level Media

Pakistan US Iran

As of right now, the two-week ceasefire will expire at 0000 GMT Wednesday (8 p.m. ET Tuesday.) But the truce between Iran, Israel and the United States started after multiple deadlines posed byU.S. President Donald Trump that threatened Iran's very “civilization”at one point. Further delays or sudden changes likely will be the norm leading up to the deadline.

Serious challenges face the talks that may be held in Islamabad ahead of the ceasefire's expiration about the future of theStrait of Hormuz, Iran'snuclear programand other issues. Meanwhile, Iran targeted ships in the strait over the weekend. The U.S. also attacked and boarded one Iranian vessel that tried to outrun the American naval blockade in the strait — signaling that the situation remains volatile and a resumption of the war isn't out of the question.

Here's what to know about where the ceasefire stands, the possible talks in Pakistan and other issues surrounding the war.

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The deadline in an uneasy ceasefire approaches

The ceasefire in the war began April 8, though Iranian attacks targeted Gulf Arab states and Israel after it had started. Another mysterious attack struck an Iranian oil refinery on an island as well that afternoon. However, it is has broadly held. The two-week deadline means it will expire April 22 without any extension agreed to by parties, either overtly through public messaging or through allowing it to pass without directly resuming hostilities. But risks remain, particularly if there's isn't any diplomatic agreement reached in the meantime.

New talks in Pakistan hang in balance

An earlier round of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. was held in Pakistan from April 11 into the early morning the following day. U.S. Vice President JD Vance took part in the highest-level talks between America and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ended without an agreement. Since this weekend, authorities in Islamabad have made preparations similar to those that accompanied the first talks, suggesting another round loomed. The White House has said that Vance would be returning to Islamabad for a new round of talks in the coming days with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. But so far, neither Iran or the U.S. have sent a delegation into Pakistan.

Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut

The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all natural gas and oil passes, remains effectively closed over Iranian attacks in the waterway. That included some attacks Saturday. There's also a fear that Iran mined a portion of the strait used by transiting ships during peacetime. Since the war, Iran reportedly has been charging as much as $2 million a vessel to allow them to pass. Opening the strait remains a key focus of negotiations and Tehran's strongest leverage against Washington, particularly as countries around the world have begun rationing energy and warning of shortages of jet fuel. The U.S. Navy attacked an Iranian container ship that tried to run its blockade of the strait this weekend, with Marines rappelling onto it from helicopters.

Iran's nuclear stockpile remains in country

All of Iran’s highly enriched uraniumremains in the country, likely entombed at enrichment sites bombed by the U.S. during a 12-day war last June. Iran hasn’t enriched since then but maintains it has the right to do so for peaceful purposes and denies seeking nuclear weapons. Trump, along with Israel, has called for Iran to completely dismantle its nuclear program and give up its stockpile. Iran rejected that in its 10-point proposal for ending the war.

As the vessel toured Baja California, Diana Sanders of Vacaville sampled tequila shots — 14 or 15 in total — from six ship taverns, tequileras and pubs, according to court documents.

Shortly after her final drink, a “swaying, stammering” Sanders stumbled down a set of stairs, according to court documents. She said she suffered severe injuries and filed a lawsuit against Florida-based Carnival Corp., contending the ship's crew was negligent and overserved drinks.

A Miami-Dade County jury agreed with the 45-year-old this month, holding Carnival 60% responsible for negligence and delivering Sanders a $300,000 verdict.

“It felt amazing,” Sanders said of the win. “So, I was really happy when I saw the jury of my peers and I felt like the whole time they saw right through what the defense was trying to do, how they tried to defame my character.”

Carnival did not respond to questions from The Times regarding if the company would amend any alcoholic beverage policies in the wake of the decision.

The company issued a statement on Friday morning, saying, "Carnival Corporation respectfully disagrees with the verdict and believes there are grounds for a new trial and appeal, which it will pursue."

The lawsuit said Sanders was served approximately 14 alcoholic beverages between 2:58 and 11:37 p.m., while Sanders' attorney Spencer Aronfeld said in a social media post that his client downed 15 drinks.

Read more:Cruise passenger was served 33 drinks, pepper sprayed and restrained before he died, lawsuit says

While the number may be in dispute, Sanders’ actions were not contested.

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She was said to be “slurring her speech, had alcohol on her breath and was acting belligerent while she was in plain view of the crew members serving her,” according to the lawsuit.

While attempting to climb down a set of stairs, Sanders fell sometime between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m., according to court documents.

Sanders suffered injuries, including a concussion, headaches, possible traumatic brain injury, back and tailbone injuries and extreme mental anguish.

“Waking up after blacking out and going to the crew and asking them for help and asking them to tell me what happened was extremely frustrating,” Sanders said in a social media post. “They gave me conflicting information. They treated me like a criminal. I was very concerned that they wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened to me.”

The lawsuit claimed it was Carnival’s responsibility to “supervise and/or assist passengers aboard the vessel who Carnival knew, or should have known, were engaging, or were likely to engage, in behavior potentially dangerous to themselves or others aboard the vessel.”

Read more:Fraud allegations, fires, federal cuts: What's in L.A. County's $48.8-billion budget plan

The lawsuit added that crew members continued to serve Sanders “well past the point where she became visibly intoxicated.”

“Passengers have a responsibility to drink responsibly but cruise lines also have a responsibility to serve responsibly,” Aronfeldsaid in a social media post. “When you serve someone who is visibly intoxicated, repeatedly drink after drink, it can lead to disastrous consequences.”

Updates:11:57 a.m. April 17, 2026:Added comments from Carnival Corp.

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This story originally appeared inLos Angeles Times.