Donald Trump suggested the war in the Middle East is ‘close to over’ despite peace talks failing in Pakistan over the weekend.

As a tentative two-week ceasefire continues:

• The US says it has stepped up its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and it has ‘completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea’
• Iran has not commented to Trump’s claims, but UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was ‘highly probably’ that talks would resume
• Lebanon described preliminary talks with Israel in the US as ‘productive’ while Israel said the talks show the three countries ‘are on the same side of the equation’
• Donald Trump said it was ‘very possible’ the war would be over by the time King Charles visits the US later this month
• He also suggested the special relationship with the UK ‘has been better’ and said ‘I think that I like Starmer’

Iran is causing chaos in the Strait of Hormuz by using ‘zombie ships’ without any identification to try and bypass the US blockade.

The US said its blockade has been ‘fully implemented’ but Iranian state media reported a crude oil carrier has passed through ‘without any concealment’.

Experts have described a new pattern of ‘shadow’ activity where ships adopt difference identification to avoid detection.

‘Now, we are starting to see vessels going dark or using “zombie” or random identification,’ Ami Daniel, the chief executive of Windward, a maritime intelligence data provider, told the New York Times.

Under international maritime laws, commercial vessels must travel with a transponder that transmits identifying information including the ship’s name, location and route.

Iran has claimed a crude oil carrier ignored the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and entered Iranian waters after travelling through the waterway.

The supertanker, which the regime said is capable of carrying around 2 million barrels of crude oil, sailed through international waters and the strait with its tracking system switched on and ‘without any concealment’, according to the country’s state Fars News Agency.

The claims heavily contradict US assertions that the crucial passageway has been blockaded to ships trading with Iran.

On Tuesday, Adm Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command said: ‘A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented.

‘In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, US forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea,’ he added.

US Central Command earlier claimed six merchant vessels turned around and returned to an Iranian port after complying with ‘direction from US forces’.

It is hard to assess how effective the blockade has been so far.

The first day on Tuesday appeared to make little difference to Strait of Hormuz traffic, with at least eight ‌ships including three Iran-linked tankers passing through, shipping data showed.

Donald Trump claimed it was ‘very possible’ the Iran war would be over before King Charles visits the US at the end of the month.

The monarch is travelling to the US on a state visit for three days from April 27.

Trump told Sky News: ‘It’s possible. Very possible. They’re beaten up pretty bad. It’s very possible.’

Asked about the UK’s relationship with the US, Trump said it has ‘been better’ before strongly criticising Sir Keir Starmer’s failure to support the conflict.

He added: ‘How is the relationship? It’s the relationship where: when we asked them for help, they were not there. When we needed them, they were not there. When we didn’t need them, they were not there. And they still aren’t there.’