Less than 24 hours after Foreign Minister Araghchi declared the Strait of Hormuz "completely open," the IRGC Navy reversed the announcement. The IRGC's official naval command posted on X: "Every breach of promise by America will be met with a fitting response. As long as the passage of vessels from Iranian origin to Iranian destination remains under threat, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain in its previous state. By the will of Allah." The Iranian Armed Forces spokesman confirmed: "The Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state." At 09:20 UTC, UKMTO issued Warning 037-26 reporting that the master of a tanker at 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman reported being approached by two IRGC gunboats with no prior VHF radio challenge before being fired upon. The tanker and crew were reported safe. The vessel was identified by NBC News and Wikipedia as the Indian-flagged VLCC Sanmar Herald, a large crude carrier that had received prior clearance from Iran to transit the strait. A second Indian-flagged ship was also targeted and forced to turn back. A container ship separately reported damage from an "unknown projectile" 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman — UKMTO confirmed "damage to some containers, no fires or environmental impact." India's Ministry of External Affairs responded by summoning the Iranian ambassador in New Delhi: Secretary Vikram Misri "conveyed India's deep concern" over the incident and urged Iran to "resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships." The Iranian envoy undertook to convey India's views to Tehran. India had been listed as a "friendly" nation given limited transit rights — the targeting of Indian ships was therefore a direct escalation against a key Iranian diplomatic partner. CENTCOM confirmed 23 vessels had been turned back by US forces since the blockade commenced on April 13 — the cumulative total increasing from 13 on April 16. CENTCOM also released images of AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships patrolling the strait as Iran reimposed restrictions. By 10:30 UTC at least eight tankers had crossed the strait but at least as many appeared to have turned back.
The deeper story behind the Hormuz re-closure was revealed by Iran International, which confirmed the IRGC's reversal of FM Araghchi's announcement was part of a documented internal power seizure. IRGC Commander-in-Chief Ahmad Vahidi had been working to consolidate control over Iran's negotiating posture: he sought to displace Ghalibaf and Araghchi, pushed to include SNSC Secretary Mohammad-Bagher Zolghadr in the delegation (opposed by current members), and insisted the delegation must avoid any negotiations over Iran's missile program. In a confrontation at a senior government meeting, President Masoud Pezeshkian directly accused Vahidi and Ali Abdollahi (commander of the unified armed forces HQ) of "acting unilaterally and driving escalation through attacks on regional countries, especially against their infrastructure." Pezeshkian warned that "based on precise assessments, Iran's economy would not be able to withstand a prolonged war for much longer and that full economic collapse was inevitable." He told the meeting the IRGC's unilateral actions had "destroyed any remaining chance of a ceasefire and were steering the Islamic Republic directly toward a huge catastrophe." This represented the most serious split between Iran's elected government and its military command since the war began. Sources told Iran International that the Guards had effectively "stripped the government of executive control" and erected a security barrier around the core of power — with Pezeshkian's authority having shrunk to near-zero on war management questions. The ISW separately assessed the Hormuz re-closure as "an internal power play by IRGC commanders" designed to override Foreign Ministry concessions made without IRGC approval. The IRGC's public statement framing the re-closure as a response to "America's untrustworthiness" provided political cover for what was in essence a coup over Iran's diplomatic posture. Iran's National Security Commission head Ebrahim Azizi stated the strait was closed in response to "the enemy's new duplicity."
The Wall Street Journal reported that the US military was preparing to dramatically expand its maritime operations beyond the Gulf of Oman, planning to board and seize Iran-linked oil tankers and commercial vessels in international waters globally — specifically targeting illicit Iranian oil exports destined for China and vessels transporting weapons. The expansion was consistent with ISW's previously documented assessment: "The US blockade on Iranian ports does not have a defined geographic boundary, and the United States can interdict vessels almost anywhere in international waters until they arrive at their final port." Earlier in the year, US forces had seized a Venezuelan tanker in the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles from its originating port, establishing the legal and operational precedent. General Caine had on April 16 confirmed dark fleet vessels were now a target. The planned global expansion represented a significant escalation of the economic siege: rather than waiting for vessels to exit the strait, US Navy destroyers and other assets could intercept Iran-linked tankers in the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, or Mediterranean. This directly threatened Chinese commercial interests — Beijing's purchase of Iranian oil through intermediaries would now risk vessel seizure in waters far from the Gulf. Trump Situation Room was convened this Saturday morning with VP Vance, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Bessent and CIA Director John Ratcliffe to discuss both the Hormuz re-closure and the state of negotiations. A senior US official told Axios that "if there is no breakthrough soon, the war could resume in the coming days."
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office following the Situation Room meeting, Trump addressed Iran's Hormuz reversal with characteristic confidence. "Iran got a little cute — they wanted to close up the Strait again." He added: "They can't blackmail us." Despite the re-closure and the Sanmar Herald attack, Trump maintained the broader negotiating picture was positive: "The talks are working out really well." He also said the US was having "very good conversations" with Tehran. The IRGC's re-closure, from Trump's framing, was Iran testing limits rather than fundamentally rejecting diplomacy. Behind the scenes, Axios reported a more acute assessment: the re-closure arose after the parties had actually made "progress in narrowing the gaps regarding Iran's uranium enrichment and its enriched uranium stockpile" — suggesting the IRGC hardliners moved to block the diplomatic momentum precisely because progress was being made. Iran's Supreme National Security Council issued a formal statement confirming that the US had presented new proposals through Pakistan during Army Chief Munir's Tehran visit, and that Iran was reviewing them but had not yet responded. This was the first official Iranian acknowledgment of substantive new US proposals — a significant diplomatic signal beneath the kinetic noise. Trump spoke by phone at least once with both Munir and Iranian officials, per US officials cited by Axios.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaking on state television, described the current state of proximity negotiations in frank terms: both the American and Iranian negotiating teams had developed "a more realistic understanding" and there had been "progress," but "a big distance" remained on the core disputes — Iran's nuclear program and sovereign control over the Strait of Hormuz. Ghalibaf's characterisation was consistent with Axios reporting that the re-closure of Hormuz was actually triggered by progress on nuclear gaps, suggesting the IRGC was trying to preserve Hormuz as a separate bargaining chip. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey, confirmed that Egypt and Pakistan were working "very hard" as co-mediators to bring about "a final agreement between the United States and Iran." He said the countries hoped to reach an agreement "in the coming days" and stated: "Not only us in the region, but the whole world is suffering from the continuation of this war." Pakistan's PM Sharif was simultaneously completing his Gulf tour through Qatar and Turkey to neutralise potential spoilers. Iranian sources told CNN that US and Iranian delegations were expected to hold Round 2 of negotiations in Islamabad on Monday — though Washington had not yet publicly confirmed the date. The April 22 ceasefire expiry was now 4 days away.
Day 51 revealed the most dangerous structural problem of the peace process: Iran does not speak with one voice, and the faction that controls the weapons controls the outcome. Araghchi opened the strait. Vahidi closed it. Pezeshkian is warning of catastrophe. The IRGC is shooting at Indian ships. This is not negotiating posture — this is a genuine institutional breakdown where the elected government and the military command are operating with opposing objectives. The Axios revelation that progress on the nuclear question actually triggered the IRGC re-closure is the most important intelligence of Day 51: the IRGC hardliners may be deliberately sabotaging a deal that the Foreign Ministry and the elected government want to reach. If that is correct, then no diplomatic agreement between the US and Iran's "official" negotiators is durable until the IRGC command structure is either brought inside the deal or bypassed. The Monday Islamabad window is the last realistic pre-April 22 opportunity. A senior US official has confirmed that if no breakthrough occurs, the war resumes in days.