---

---

---

---

---

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, has blocked President Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidential appointments and erected what sources described as a security cordon around Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, a report published Tuesday by Iran International said. The IRGC effectively has assumed control over key state functions, the report claimed.

"It was always a matter of when, not if, the IRGC was going to step forward even more than it has in the last three decades," Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

Pezeshkian has reached a "complete political deadlock" as tensions between his administration and the military leadership deepen, according to the report.

Analysts say a more powerful IRGC likely would mean a more confrontational Iran, less willing to compromise in talks with Washington and more inclined to continue military escalation across the region. With U.S.-Iran negotiations already faltering and uncertainty growing over whether Tehran will even send negotiators to the next round of talks, the rise of the Revolutionary Guard raises fresh doubts about who actually is making decisions in Iran and whether any civilian official can still speak for the regime.

"But it’s a mistake to assume this is some sort of coup," Ben Taleblu said. "This has been the process in Iran for years now, as the regime has chosen conflict over cooperation and emboldened its security forces at every juncture."

Pezeshkian’s recent effort to appoint a new intelligence minister collapsed after direct pressure from IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, sources told Iran International, arguing that all proposed candidates, including former Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, were rejected.

Vahidi reportedly insisted that under wartime conditions, all critical and sensitive positions must be chosen and managed directly by the Revolutionary Guard until further notice.

"By any standard, Vahidi is considered a radical even within the regime’s hardline elite, and his rise is a warning that Tehran’s war machine now calls the shots," Lisa Daftari, foreign policy analyst and journalist, told Fox News Digital.

Under Iran’s system, the president traditionally nominates an intelligence minister only after securing approval from the supreme leader. But with the condition and whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei unclear in recent weeks, the IRGC appears to be increasingly acting without civilian oversight.

---

---

---

---

https://x.com/DeptofWar/status/2046544038812156177?s=20

---

---

​​​​​​​Overnight, U.S. forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the stateless sanctioned M/T Tifani without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.



As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran—anywhere they operate.

International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels.

The Department of War will continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.

---

---

---

---

NEW | An Iranian delegation, including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, will likely go to Islamabad, Pakistan, for negotiations with the United States on April 22.

Ghalibaf seems to prefer negotiations and has publicly defended the negotiations against Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) backlash. He may nonetheless reject direct negotiations until the United States meets Iranian preconditions, in part because of the fractious nature of the Iranian political establishment at this time.

More Key Takeaways:

Ghalibaf and those defending negotiations remain under significant pressure because the IRGC continues to reject negotiations with the United States and several stated US demands. An unnamed source told Axios that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued formal approval on April 20 for Iran’s participation in a second round of talks despite the IRGC pressure on the negotiating team to reject such talks.

The Iranian delegation may attempt to secure a ceasefire extension. The ceasefire is set to expire in the evening Washington time on April 22, according to US President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly stated that he does not want to extend the ceasefire.

---

---

---

---

---

---

Ghalibaf and those defending negotiations remain under significant pressure because the IRGC continues to reject negotiations with the United States and several stated US demands. An unnamed source told Axios that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued formal approval on April 20 for Iran’s participation in a second round of talks despite the IRGC pressure on the negotiating team to reject such talks.

---

---

---

---

The Dead Ship Registry

How zombie tankers use the identities of scrapped ships to move sanctioned cargo through the world’s most-watched chokepoint

tanker broadcasting the identity of a scrapped Japanese LNG carrier transited the Strait of Hormuz on March 20, 2026. The vessel’s IMO number belonged to the LNG Jamal, a ship that had been beached at an Indian demolition yard five months earlier. The signal was clean. The identity passed automated screening. The cargo moved.

This is the zombie tanker problem. Vessels are now transiting the world’s most contested chokepoint under the names, IMO numbers, and call signs of ships confirmed destroyed. The technique exploits a structural gap in maritime compliance: screening systems verify IMO numbers against sanctions lists, but they do not cross-reference against demolition records in real time. A vessel broadcasting a dead ship’s credentials will pass most automated checks without triggering manual review.

The zombie is not a one-off. It is a shuttle.….

---