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07:29
Seized Iranian Ship May Have Had Dual-Use Cargo
The Iranian-flagged container ship Touska, which was seized by US forces on April 19, was likely carrying items Washington considers dual-use, meaning goods with possible civilian and military applications, maritime security sources told Reuters on April 20.
The vessel, part of the sanctioned company Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), was boarded off Iran’s Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman.
US Central Command said the crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over six hours and that the vessel was violating a US maritime blockade.
Sources said initial assessments suggested the ship was carrying dual-use cargo after a voyage from Asia. They did not specify the items involved. One source said the vessel had previously transported similar goods.
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07:19
Qalibaf Says Iran Has ‘New Cards’ In War With US, Israel
Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is also Iran’s lead negotiator, said that Iran is “prepared to reveal new cards” in the war with the United States and Israel.
“[US President Donald] Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table — in his own imagination — into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering,” Qalibafwrote on Xlate on April 20.
“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” he added.
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07:14
Amnesty International Condemns New ‘Predatory’ World Order
The leaders of the United States, Israel and Russia are seeking to impose a new “predatory” world order while most countries are too cowardly to stop them, rights group Amnesty International said April 21.
Launching the global group’s annual report in London, Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard condemned Trump, Putin and Netanyahu as “predators.”
The report on “reflections on human rights in 2025/26,” and features a statement by Callamard on “voracious predators stalked through our global commons, hulking hunters plundering unjust trophies. Political leaders like Trump, Putin and Netanyahu, among many others, carried out their conquests for economic and political domination through destruction, suppression and violence on a massive scale.”
“The 1948 adoptions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention, and the many other normative instruments debated and adopted over the subsequent 80 years, are no illusion,” Callamard said. “They are tangible manifestations of a post-world war order founded on a multilateral system of equal states, rooted in universal human rights, and dedicated to non-recurrence of atrocities.”
“We all know that the systems promise remains unfulfilled, but it is not for the promise-breaker to declare that promise a fantasy,” she added.
To read the full Amnesty International statement, clickhere.
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00:16
We are now closing the live blog for the day. We’ll be back tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to cover the latest events across the Middle East.
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21:02
20.4.2026
Why Is Iran Parading Pink Weapons? To Coerce Women Into Militancy, Says Rights Expert
Speaking with RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, Mansoureh Shojaee, an Iranian women’s rights activist based in the Netherlands, says the regime is coercing women into “revenge-driven” militancy amid war with the United States and Israel.
In videos shown by pro-government media outlets, crowds of Iranian women were filmed holding guns, flags, and children at the recent rally titled Self-Sacrificing Daughters Of Iran, where pink weapons were on display.
