Newshour

The BBC's Lyse Doucet has been speaking to the senior Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Azizi, the Chairman of Iran's Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. He calls America "the world's biggest pirate".
Also in the programme: A BBC investigation finds that British soldiers stationed in Kenya fathered children with local women and in some cases, abandoned them. And a robot wins the Beijing half marathon - is this technological progress or a dystopian nightmare?
(Photo: Iranians walk past an anti-USA and anti-Israel mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, 20 April 2026. Conflict between Iran and the US over the Strait of Hormuz continues as Iran again closed the Strait. Credit: Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/Shutterstock)

President Trump says a US delegation will arrive in Pakistan on Monday for negotiations with Iran. The White House says it will again be led by Vice-President JD Vance. But reports from Iran say hardliners in the leadership are against attending as long as America's blockade of Iranian ports continues.
Also in the programme: The party of the pro-Russian former president, Rumen Radev, is on course to win Bulgaria's general election and more than 150 authors leave a prominent French publisher, but why?
(Photo: A police officer gestures to a vehicle at a check post along a road near Faisal Masjid, as Pakistan prepares to host the U.S. and Iran for the second phase of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan April 19, 2026. CREDIT: REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro)

Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, which it calls a "breach of the ceasefire". We'll hear from inside Iran from Lyse Doucet.
Also on the programme, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat to his leadership; and, amid our modern technology, people rush to independent record stores to celebrate vinyl records. 
(Photo:The Malta-flagged tanker Agios Fanourios I, an oil tanker that sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, arrives in Iraq’s territorial waters off Basra,Iraq April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Aty)

Iran's navy says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US blockade on Iranian ports is lifted. It says the continuing US blockade is a "breach of the ceasefire" and warns that ships approaching the vital shipping channel "will be targeted". We hear from our Chief International Correspondent in Tehran.

Also on the programme: the ongoing row over the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson, a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as UK ambassador to Washington; and tributes are being paid to one of France's most celebrated film stars, Nathalie Baye, who's died at the age of 77.

(Photo: A vessel at the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Oman’s Musandam province on April 12, 2026. Credit: Reuters)

Iran's central military command has said it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again, accusing the United States of continuing its naval blockade of ships sailing to and from Iran's port.
We hear the latest from our correspondent in the Middle East and we speak from a captain on one of the ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.
Also in the programme: the perils of using AI chatbots to diagnose illnesses; and China's love affair with snooker.
(Photo: A drone view of a tanker arriving in Iraq's territorial waters after sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. Credit: Mohammed Aty / Reuters)