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Iran seizes two ships in Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump extends U.S.-Iran ceasefire indefinitely. EU Energy Commissioner warns war will affect prices for years. Israel continues attacks in Lebanon despite ceasefire. Hezbollah fires rockets and drones at Israeli artillery. Israel commits 220 violations in ceasefire’s first three days, report says. Lebanese president says talks to extend ceasefire are ongoing, ahead of meeting with Israel. Israeli attacks continue in Gaza. Raids and detentions in the occupied West Bank. Four Palestinian members of Board of Peace committee offer to resign in protest. Israeli military conducts operations in Syria’s Golan. Israel honors rabbi accused of war crimes as Independence Day torchbearer. Virginia voters approve Democratic redistricting map. Florida Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigns from Congress. Poll shows likely Democratic primary voters in N.J. district souring on U.S. support for Israel. Eleven Democratic senators accuse Hegseth of violating U.S. and international law. Treasury sanctions 14 targets across Iran, Turkey, and UAE. Justice Department indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on federal fraud charges. Trump administration blocks $500 million to Iraq, stops security cooperation programs. Paraguay agrees to accept 25 U.S. deportees with no ties to country. Russian drones strike Odesa port and Zaporizhia railway, killing train driver. U.K. parliament passes lifetime tobacco ban for anyone born after 2008.

From Drop Site: Trump Blinks First, Extending Ceasefire with Iran as Hormuz Deadlock Continues. Rare Survivors of Pacific Boat Strikes Allege U.S. Forces Kidnapped and Tortured Them.

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A young boy stands amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Sir on April 21, 2026. Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP via Getty Images.

Iran and Ceasefire

Iranian Revolutionary Guard seizes two ships: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, damaging the vessel without causing casualties or environmental harm, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which said a Guard gunboat opened fire without warning. Iran’s state-linked Nour News disputed that account, saying the ship had ignored warnings and suffered extensive damage, framing the attack as enforcement of Iranian control over the strait. In addition to this, the Iranian Navy captured two foreign commercial vessels on Wednesday and had moved them to the Iranian coast, according to Iranian state media. The move came a day after U.S. forces boarded and seized an oil tanker linked to Iran, the second one intercepted by the U.S.
Trump extends U.S.-Iran ceasefire indefinitely: President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States would extend its ceasefire with Iran indefinitely at the request of Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In a Truth Social post, Trump said he has directed the military to maintain the naval blockade and remain on full readiness for the duration of the extension. The ceasefire will hold, Trump said, “until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded—one way or the other.” This follows reporting from Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill, who right before this announcement confirmed that Iran would not attend a second round of talks, primarily because Pakistan had promised that Trump would lift the blockade and he did not. This remains the position of the Iranian government after the announcement of the extension, according to Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN. “As soon as [the U.S.] breaks the naval blockade, the next round of negotiations will take place in Islamabad.” Read the latest on the state of the ceasefire from Jeremy Scahill here.
EU Energy Commissioner warns war will affect prices for years: European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said Wednesday the Iran war was costing Europe around 500 million euros (approx. $585 million) each day and would affect prices for years to come. “This is not a short-term, small increase in prices. This is a crisis that is probably as serious as the 1973 and the 2022 crises combined,” he said on Wednesday according to AP.
CNN: Oil spills from Iran war visible from space: Multiple oil spills spreading across the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz are visible from space after Iranian and U.S.-Israeli strikes hit oil facilities and vessels in the region, according to CNN, with environmental experts warning of an impending ecological disaster. One image, taken on April 7, shows a spill spanning more than five miles in the Strait of Hormuz near Iran’s Qeshm Island. An Iranian vessel leaked oil in the same area after U.S. forces struck it on February 28, Greenpeace Germany spokesperson Nina Noelle told CNN.
UK and France to lead multinational Hormuz conference: Britain is hosting military planners from more than 30 countries for two days of talks starting Wednesday on a UK- and France-led multinational mission aimed at protecting navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The defense ministry said the meeting will “advance detailed planning” to reopen the strait when conditions allow. UK Defense Minister John Healey said the goal is to “translate diplomatic consensus into a joint plan to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Strait and support a lasting ceasefire,” adding he is confident “real progress can be made.” The initiative follows a Paris meeting co-chaired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron, with both countries stressing the force would be strictly defensive and deployed only once a lasting regional peace agreement is reached.

Lebanon

Israel continues attacks in Lebanon despite ceasefire:
- An Israeli drone strike on the village of Jabbour killed one person and wounded two others Wednesday, according to the National News Agency (NNA).
- Two people were also killed in a separate Israeli attack on a car in at-Tiri in southern Lebanon.
- Israel continued its demolition operations in Bint Jbeil and in the villages of Beit Leef, Shamaa, Tayf Harfa, and Hanin on Wednesday, NNA reported. Israeli shelling also targeted the towns of Houla and Al-Qusayr in the Marjayoun district.
Hezbollah fires rockets and drones at Israeli artillery: Hezbollah said Tuesday it launched rockets and attack drones at an Israeli artillery position in Kfar Jaladi, in response to Israel’s continued ceasefire violations. Hezbollah also announced Wednesday that it targeted an Israeli artillery position in the town of Al-Bayyada using an explosive drone.
Israel commits 220 violations in ceasefire’s first three days, report says: Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research and National Center for Natural Hazards and Early Warning recorded 220 Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement across more than 15 categories in the roughly 72 hours between midnight April 16 and noon April 19, according to figures published by legal research organization Al-Mofakira Al-Qanouniya. The violations included 52 artillery bombardments, 50 mining and detonation operations, 30 aerial violations by combat and surveillance aircraft, 15 ground patrols with automatic weapons, 7 airstrikes, 4 phosphorus bomb and sonic device deployments, and 62 additional recorded incidents. Three people were killed and seven were injured during the period, including four paramedics.
Lebanese president says talks to extend ceasefire are ongoing, ahead of meeting with Israel: Lebanese President General Joseph Aoun said that “contacts are underway to extend the ceasefire deadline,” in meetings with parliamentary and political delegations Wednesday, ahead of a direct meeting with Israel on Thursday. Aoun also noted that Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington will “raise the issue of extending the ceasefire deadline and halting Israeli demolition operations in villages and towns in southern Lebanon,” amid continuing Israeli demolitions.

Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel

Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed—one during new attacks, and another from wounds sustained during earlier attacks—and four were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,562 killed, with 172,320 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 786 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,217, while 761 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israeli attacks continue in Gaza: An Israeli drone strike on Jabaliya killed one and wounded others Wednesday morning, WAFA reports. The residents were struck as they were trying to remove rubble from their homes. Several Palestinians were also wounded on Tuesday after Israeli shelling near Al-Atatra roundabout in Beit Lahia, in the northwest of the Gaza Strip.
Raids and detentions in the occupied West Bank:
- Israeli forces fired on a funeral procession in Al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah on Wednesday. They reportedly fired live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas at the group. The mourners were attending the funeral of two Palestinians, one of whom was 14 years old, killed in an Israeli settler attack on a school on Tuesday.
- A man was detained on Wednesday by Israeli forces in Masafer Yatta as settlers attacked Palestinian property in the area, WAFA reports. Israel also detained an employee of a charitable organization in Jerusalem.
- At least 90 Palestinian women are currently being held in Israeli detention, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, including minors, a pregnant woman, journalists, and administrative detainees who are held without charge, the group stated Wednesday. The statement says detainees are subjected to harsh conditions including starvation, medical neglect, solitary confinement, and sexual abuse.
Four Palestinian members of Board of Peace committee offer to resign in protest: At least four of the 13 members of the Palestinian committee appointed in January as part of President Trump’s Board of Peace offered their resignations in protest against the lack of any progress allowing the body to begin its work in Gaza, according to the Emirati-newspaper The National. The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), as it is formally known, is the only committee within the Board of Peace organizational structure to include any Palestinians. NCAG members have been based in Cairo since January, though Israel has not allowed them to cross into Gaza, saying their entry is conditional on Hamas disarming. Nickolay Mladenov, the Bulgarian diplomat who was appointed as High Representative of the Board of Peace and who supervises the NCAG, rejected the resignations, and urged the four members to stay on, The National reported.
Israeli military conducts operations in Syria’s Golan: Israeli forces entered Quneitra, in the Syrian countryside, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency, raiding multiple villages and detaining at least three residents, including two children.
Israel honors rabbi accused of war crimes as Independence Day torchbearer: Israel selected Avraham Zarbiv, a 52-year-old army reservist and state rabbinical judge facing an International Criminal Court complaint over his conduct in Gaza, to light one of 12 ceremonial torches at Tuesday’s Independence Day celebration—one of the country’s highest civic honors. Zarbiv rose to notoriety after being filmed throwing grenades at Palestinians in Khan Younis, recording himself demolishing Palestinian homes in Gaza and southern Lebanon, and boasting on Israeli television of mass destruction, with his name becoming a colloquial verb meaning to flatten or obliterate.

U.S. News

By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com.

Virginia voters approve Democratic redistricting map: Virginia voters narrowly approved a ballot referendum Tuesday authorizing the Democratic-controlled state legislature to bypass the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission and implement a new congressional map through the end of the decade. This could allow Democrats to pick up as many as four House seats in this fall’s midterm elections, according to NBC News. The approved map is designed to leave just one solidly Republican district among Virginia’s 11 congressional seats, shifting from the current six-to-five Democratic advantage.
Florida Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigns from Congress: Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigned from Congress Tuesday moments after a House Ethics Committee hearing convened to recommend disciplinary action against her, following a panel finding in March that she committed more than two dozen ethics violations related to allegations she funneled millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds into her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick, who was separately indicted on 15 federal felony charges last November and has pleaded not guilty, called the ethics process ‘not a fair process’ and said proceeding alongside a pending criminal indictment prevented her from defending herself. A special election will be needed to fill her seat representing Florida’s 20th Congressional District.
Poll shows likely Democratic primary voters in N.J. district souring on U.S. support for Israel: A poll commissioned by Mussab Ali, a Democratic primary challenger to Rep. Robert Menendez (D) in New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District, found that the majority of likely Democratic primary voters are dissatisfied with U.S. foreign policy toward Israel. Conducted April 11–16 among 416 likely Democratic primary voters by Center for Strategic Politics Strategies, the survey found 40% of respondents calling for a full cessation of military aid to Israel, with an additional 35% calling for reductions or conditions on that aid. Just 16% said an endorsement from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee would make them more likely to support a candidate, compared with 49% who said it would make them less likely. The poll also tested the district’s congressional race between Menendez—son of former Sen. Bob Menendez, who was convicted and sentenced on bribery and foreign agent charges—and progressive challenger Ali. Before candidate biographies were shared, respondents favored Menendez over Ali 42% to 27%. After positive and negative biographical information was presented, Ali moved ahead 43% to 33%.
Eleven Democratic senators accuse Hegseth of violating U.S. and international law: Led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), eleven Democratic senators have accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of violating U.S. and international law in American military operations against Iran, citing four strikes they say caused unlawful civilian casualties—including a missile attack on a girls’ school in Minab that killed 175 people and a separate strike in Lamerd that killed 21. The senators warned that Hegseth’s “no quarter” remarks breach the laws of war and could invite retaliation against U.S. troops. They also charged that his dismantling of Pentagon civilian harm mitigation programs—including target vetting, risk assessments, and post-strike reviews—has stripped away key safeguards designed to limit civilian deaths and ensure legal compliance.
Treasury sanctions 14 targets across Iran, Turkey, and UAE: The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 14 individuals, entities, and aircraft Tuesday as part of “Operation Economic Fury,” targeting networks procuring or transporting weapons components for the Iranian regime across Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Targets include a network supplying servomotors found in downed Shahed-136 attack drones, a Turkish company shipping cotton linters used to produce solid rocket propellant to Iranian defense entities, and several individuals tied to Mahan Air, which Treasury says has transported unmanned aerial vehicles and other weapons, including to Venezuela. Separately, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that Kharg Island—which handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports—will exhaust its storage capacity within days due to the naval blockade, potentially forcing Iran to shut down oil wells entirely; prolonged shutdowns risk permanently damaging reservoir pressure, Bessent said, meaning Iran could lose production capacity requiring years to recover even after a deal is reached.
Justice Department indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on federal fraud charges: A federal grand jury in Alabama returned an 11-count indictment Tuesday against the Southern Poverty Law Center, charging the civil rights organization with wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering over a program in which it allegedly funneled more than $3 million to confidential informants embedded in violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, between 2014 and 2023. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche alleged the SPLC concealed the payments through fictitious entities and misled donors by claiming their funds would be used to “dismantle” extremist groups, while FBI Director Kash Patel called the informant program “a serious and egregious violation.” SPLC Chief Executive Bryan Fair denied the allegations, saying the informant program “saved lives” and was shared with law enforcement, including the FBI. Fair called the prosecution an attempt to weaponize the federal government against organizations defending civil rights. Legal analysts noted the charges would be unusually difficult to prove against a corporate entity, and the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the indictment as “yet another example of the Trump administration’s extreme attempts to silence its critics.”
Class action suit accuses North Carolina farm of confiscating immigrant workers’ passports: A class action lawsuit filed Friday accuses Jackson Farming Company of Autryville, North Carolina, and its labor contractors of confiscating the passports and visa documents of Mexican farmworkers on H-2A visas with the explicit goal of preventing them from leaving, while also charging illegal recruitment fees, making unlawful pay deductions, falsifying payroll records, and failing to provide bathrooms, drinking water, or adequate care for workers suffering heatstroke. Lead plaintiff Fernando Javier Rodríguez Luna, who was recruited in Mexico to harvest crops in North Carolina in 2024 and 2025, says contractors threatened workers who tried to leave that they would be blacklisted from future H-2A visas, and charged those who insisted on departing $300 to retrieve their own documents—even instructing workers to conceal the passport confiscations from a Department of Labor investigation. Attorneys with the North Carolina Justice Center, which is representing the workers, said the case reflects a structural vulnerability in the H-2A program that contractor middlemen exploit to shield farm owners from liability, and warned that the Trump administration’s deportation threats and recent cuts to the H-2A minimum wage—estimated to reduce pay for more than 350,000 farmworkers by 26 to 32 percent—are making abuse significantly more difficult for workers to report. For more on the lawsuit, read the American Prospect here.
CFPB formally eliminates disparate-impact lending protections: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau formally rescinded disparate-impact requirements under the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act Tuesday, ending a decades-old enforcement tool that barred lenders from policies with unintentionally discriminatory effects on borrowers even in the absence of explicit bias, Reuters reported. The change, published in the federal register, leaves intact prohibitions against intentional discrimination but removes a standard that the government has long used to police racial and gender discrimination in housing, lending, and education. Consumer advocates warned the move will make discrimination far harder to detect and prosecute, and said it opens the door to legal challenges, given that the disparate-impact doctrine is rooted in Supreme Court precedent.

Other International News

Trump administration blocks $500 million to Iraq, stops security cooperation programs: The Trump administration has blocked a nearly $500 million cash delivery from Iraqi oil sale proceeds held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and frozen security cooperation programs with Baghdad’s military, in an effort to pressure Iraq into taking action against Iranian-aligned armed groups, according to the Wall Street Journal. It is the second such shipment delayed since the U.S.-Iran war began in late February. Under a post-2003 arrangement, Washington holds Iraq’s oil revenues at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and ships up to $13 billion annually in physical cash to Baghdad to keep its cash-dependent economy functioning.
Paraguay agrees to accept 25 U.S. deportees with no ties to country: Paraguay announced Tuesday it will receive an initial group of 25 Spanish-speaking deportees from the United States beginning Thursday, becoming the latest country to join the Trump administration’s expanding network of third-country deportation agreements that send migrants to nations they have no ties to. Countries including Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, and South Sudan have signed similar arrangements. The Associated Press has reported the Trump administration is seeking similar arrangements with 47 additional countries.
Russian drones strike Odesa port and Zaporizhia railway, killing train driver: Russian drones struck Ukraine’s main Black Sea port in Odesa overnight Wednesday, damaging berths, warehouses, and railway infrastructure, while a separate attack on a sorting yard in the Zaporizhia region killed an assistant train driver and injured the main driver, according to Al Jazeera.
U.K. parliament passes lifetime tobacco ban for anyone born after 2008: The United Kingdom’s parliament has approved the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which will permanently bar anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 from purchasing tobacco products for the rest of their lives, in what Health Secretary Wes Streeting called “the biggest public health intervention in a generation.” The bill, which awaits royal assent next week, will also grant ministers new powers to regulate the flavors, packaging, and advertising of vaping and nicotine products, and will extend smoke-free zones to playgrounds, school and hospital entrances, and cars carrying children. Smoking causes roughly 400,000 hospital admissions and 64,000 deaths annually in England alone and costs the National Health Service an estimated £3 billion per year in treatment costs, according to the Guardian.

More from Drop Site

Ecuadorian fishermen allege kidnapping, torture by U.S. forces: Survivors of two separate attacks on Ecuadorian fishing vessels in the Pacific alleged Wednesday that U.S. military forces struck their boats with drones, hooded and detained crew members for days without food or medical care, and transported them roughly 900 nautical miles to El Salvador before returning them to Ecuador—accounts that, if confirmed, would constitute violations of international law. Sixteen survivors of the vessel La Negra Francisca Duarte told Drop Site News they were seized by armed English-speaking men aboard a blue U.S.-flagged patrol ship bearing the word “Spear”—a possible reference to Operation Southern Spear, the Trump administration’s counternarcotics program in the Americas—after a drone strike ignited their boat. Twenty additional fishermen from a third vessel, the Don Maca, reported a near-identical ordeal beginning April 3, including being held hooded for eight days and fired on with a pellet gun. “They’ve been threatened not to speak to the press. They’re scared for their lives,” said one wife and mother of the fishermen about the crew. Read the latest from Drop Site contributor Camila Lourdes Galarza here.

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