Tonight on Amanpour and Company, Tuesday, April 21st, 2026

REPORT: IRAN CEASEFIRE TALKS
The clock is ticking on U.S. President Trump's Iran ceasefire deadline. Vice President JD Vance was expected to travel to Pakistan for round two of negotiations. Yet Vance remains in Washington, and it's uncertain at this point whether Iran will participate in talks. So the next 24 hours remain critical. Amid the mistrust and confusion surrounding these negotiations, correspondent Nic Robertson is following developments on the ground in Islamabad.

Matt Smith
Director of Commodity Research, Kpler
Tehran says it has now returned to a "wartime footing” in the Strait of Hormuz, closing it off to vessels without Iranian authorization. Meanwhile the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports both inside and outside of the strait. The disruption is having a very real impact on ordinary people around the world. Energy expert Matt Smith joins to explain the crisis and its global implications.

Olga Rudenko
Ukrainian Journalist
Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky is condemning the Trump administration's decision to extend waivers to Russia, allowing it to sell oil despite Western sanctions. While the U.S. argues this was done to ease the energy supply crunch sparked by the Iran conflict, Zelensky says the money goes directly to fund the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, in which Kyiv's fight for survival is urgent and real. Olga Rudenko, Editor-in-Chief of the Kyiv Independent, joins to discuss.

Robert Lighthizer
Former U.S. Trade Representative
$166 billion. This is the sum the Trump administration has been ordered to refund to U.S. companies that paid tariffs, two months after the Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's import taxes. Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer defends the president's tariff regime, arguing that the free trade system has failed the global economy. Lighthizer joins Walter Isaacson.

Official Website
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/
YT Channel link
https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourandCompany