The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war.
The latest exchange was sparked by an Iranian attack on a container ship on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has asserted control over the critical waterway for international oil and gas since the United States and Israel started the war on Feb. 28.
Iran says it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with an interim peace deal reached last month. The U.S. and others dispute that, citing international law on freedom of navigation, and the American military has tried to establish an alternative route outside of Iranian control.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and will charge ships for safe passage, after another heavy exchange of fire threatened negotiations aimed at ending the war.
He said on social media that Iranian ships will no longer be able to travel through the strait and America would charge a 20 per cent toll on eligible cargo, as the conflict with Iran has intensified after peace talks failed to deliver meaningful progress.
“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving,” Trump said online. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”
The president said the toll would help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.”
Iran and the U.S. are nearly halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate a permanent end to the war and an agreement on Iran’s disputed nuclear program. Instead, a series of attacks over the strait have raised fears of a return to all-out war and further disruption to the global economy.
Oil prices jumped nearly five per cent on Monday before falling back. U.S. benchmark crude, which had risen to nearly US$120 a barrel at the height of the war, was trading at around $72.92. Markets were mixed.
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Iran apologized to Trump for unauthorized strikes by hardliners that helped quash ceasefire: reports
US says it has struck dozens of targets in Iran
The U.S. military’s Central Command described its forces as hitting dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defence systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats.
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The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called for the strait to be open, as it was before the war. “Freedom of navigation has to be respected,” she said.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a key power centre in the country’s theocracy that controls its ballistic missile arsenal, sharply rejected America’s statement.
“The Strait of Hormuz is our territory, and we will not allow a rogue and child-killing army from the other side of the world to continue its illegal interference in it,” the Guard said.
U.S.-allied Arab states report another wave of attacks
Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait said it was intercepting hostile fire. There was no immediate word on damage in either country.
In Jordan, the kingdom’s military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that “resulted in zero casualties or material damage.” Jordan also hosts U.S. military forces and aircraft.
In Iran, authorities reported attacks in Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Markazi provinces and at least two people were killed, according to state-run IRNA news agency. Semiofficial Iranian media also reported strikes in the eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, on a coast of the Gulf of Oman.
The attacks continued hours after the U.S. ended its strikes — again raising the possibility of Gulf Arab states retaliating against Iran. There were unclaimed attacks on Iran on Thursday as well.
Meanwhile, a base belonging to the armed wing of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdistan region came under drone attack on Monday. Rebaz Sharifi, a local commander, said the strikes targeted a base, without giving details on casualties or damage.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. Iran supports a number of powerful militias in Iraq.
Fighting focuses on the status of the strait
Early on Sunday, the U.S. military said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps and communication equipment — a far-heavier set of attacks than in two previous rounds of strikes in the last week.
“We bombed the hell out of them last night,” Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for travelling through it.
Sunday’s attacks stretched to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and even Oman — which shares the strait with Iran. Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West, summoned an Iranian diplomat to criticize the attack.
Iran described the strait as closed, while the U.S. military and Trump asserted it remained open.
Iran’s chokehold on the strait has loosened as the U.S. military supports vessels moving along a southern route hugging the coastline of Oman. That new route has angered Iran, which has launched repeated attacks on ships using it.
Traffic through the Oman route dropped over the weekend “to minimal levels, indicating that operators continue to prioritize perceived security over more direct transit options,” the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington for the chaos gripping the Middle East.
“Considering the memorandum of understanding’s fourteen clauses, the Americans have, in this brief period, in one way or another, slaughtered its various components,” Baghaei told journalists Monday.
Baghaei also said Iran wouldn’t agree to visits by the International Atomic Energy Agency to Iranian nuclear sites bombed in 2025 by the U.S., where Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed still to be.
Mediators are still trying to broker an agreement
Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over.” But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war.
A regional official involved in mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said efforts to shore up the ceasefire continued Sunday. Pakistan said its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran’s top diplomat and urged “de-escalation” on both sides.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen in public since the war began. On Saturday, he vowed to avenge the killing of his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the U.S. and Israeli strikes that sparked the war.
I don’t see enough action or legitimate strategy on the U.S front to believe Trump actually wants to end the war. He isn’t a war monger either. The U.S could level Iran and turn the ground to glass if they wanted, or even take out the entire leadership, but he has a lot of restraint in this situation. This back and forth has been great for the leaches whom invested in crude and dump stock when the price spikes then buy back in during the dips. So, I honestly question every move made in this game of chess.
trump will never beat Iran. They have camels and other “weapons of mass destruction.”
Some of the camels have two humps!
Run! It’s an ambush!
Iran is more then 7000 miles from the United States, so go home ad deal with your own problems at home which there are plenty and let the Middle East countries sort out their problems which will be much easier without the U.S. nosing around instigating problems.
Trump’s war with Iran accomplished absolutely nothing. It just made things worse.
The Strait of Hormuz was functioning perfectly fine until Israel and the U.S. started bombing Iran in the middle of nuclear negotiations because Trump has the patience of a chihuahua and an IQ much lower then he brags about.
On reflection, Obama’s deal wasn’t just imperfect, it was downright horrible. I’m glad Trump ripped it up, and so is most of the thinking world.
I’m sure many of you who have read my comments will agree I’m not very smart. But it seems to me each side can close the straight, but it would take both sides to open it.
Trump is a STABLE GENIUS by his own admission. I hope the horses appreciate it.
My point is I get that the Obama deal wasn’t perfect. Trump’s deal is worse IMHO-even Republicans criticized it. And who broke the previous agreement, ie. Who is at fault? The US and Trump terminated it. International monitors said Iran was following it. The Trump administration has a penchant for breaking agreements that others are complying with.
I’m agreeing with you now, Ben. The Obama deal was much worse. Trump is doing the right thing.
Also, under Obama’s plan, International inspectors (IAEA) were given unprecedented access to declared sites. However, for suspicious or undeclared military sites, the agreement established a dispute resolution process that could take up to 24 days to compel access. This window provided Iran ample time to conceal covert nuclear weapons research.
Obama’s deak also unfroze billions in Iranian assets which funded regional proxy conflicts and advanced military technology.
Going back to uranium, I should mention that under Obama’s agreement, Iran had to reduce its enriched uranium stockpile by up to 98% and limit enrichment purity. But once these constraints ended, Iran could legally accumulate enough material to dramatically reduce its “breakout time” (the time required to produce enough weapons-grade material for a single nuclear device).
Put some lipstick on Ben and you can be one of my wives, other two are pigs
Then again, Obama’s plan also let the Iranians sell oil. His deal lifted secondary sanctions on Iran’s energy sector, specifically allowing the country to resume selling crude oil and petroleum products to international markets. Did I fool any of you in my last comment?
Obama’s deal also facilitated a potential path to nuclear weapons by imposing “sunset clauses” that phased out severe restrictions on Iran’s nuclear capabilities over 10 to 15 years. The deal placed strict caps on the number and quality of uranium-enrichment centrifuges Iran could operate, but these restrictions were set to expire or “sunset” between 2026 and 2031. This gave Iran a green light to scale up industrial uranium enrichment.
What’s with 10 paragraph comments by retards who know nothing but think they’re a geopolitical analysts
Some liars on here saying Obama gave away more. LOL.
trump gave away billions more in fact.
Iran kicked his azz with more “weapons of mass destruction.
Camels.
Political and legal experts who have examined the Obama deal have stated the Trump deal was much worse and gave away the store. Letting the Iranians sell oil and giving them 300 billion dollars are just two Trump giveaways to the Iranians.
What did Trump say to the king of Africa/Europe/mideast. Keep your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape
I almost fooled some of you with my Obama deal post below, hah!
The Obama deal was much better for the Iranians. Obama’s Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) provided Iran with significantly greater economic access and fewer regional security pressures than the highly restrictive conditions the country faces today. The JCPOA lifted crippling nuclear-related international sanctions, allowing Iran to legally export oil to global markets, access billions in unfrozen overseas assets, and reintegrate into the global banking system. The lifted sanctions resulted in increased foreign investment and stabilized the Iranian currency, whereas current conditions have isolated its economy and caused severe inflation.
All that support from Obmaa, towards the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism. It’s no wonder Iran was close to developing nuclear weapons. They funnelled all those freedoms Obama foolishly gave to them into their nuke program. Thank God for Trump.
Did I manage to fool even just one person into thinking it was anyone but Iran who recently attacked those three ships? Did you love how I blamed it on a “rogue” and not the Iranian IRGC, despite what the rest of the planet already knows? Now tankers are starting to flow through again. And i’m mad. I miight be getting a pay cut from the IRGC as well, due to the naval blackade and destruction of their economy.
After starting a war, the US was upset that Iran was thinking of charging a toll. So the US blockaded the strait. Then there was an agreement to end the blockade, if the US would end theirs first. TACO got upset about that. Then cooler heads prevailed, and the blockades stopped. A rogue in Iran attacked shipping, which Iran apologized for, but Trump would not accept that. So the blockades are back on.
Although Trump cannot even guarantee safe passage for his military, he is promising safe passage for only 10 times what the shipping fee is. He was right in the first place, transit fees are illegal in international waters. And nobody is foolish enough to risk a tanker based on his boasts.
The US people have to do something about this out of control toddler before he hurts himself.
The US regime offered 300 billion to Iran to rebuild AND agreed to allow Iran to sell oil (now taken away). Much worse than the Obama deal. Yet people claim the US has the upper hand! Clearly they don’t. Alternatively, did they resurrect Chamberlain from the dead to negotiate?
The U.S. controls the Strait now, as reported by most global media sources. They have re-initiated attacks on military targets in Iran, and have also re-started a complete naval blockade of Iran.
I have two pigs and two sheep as wives
I thought president taco said Iran has no military guess he’s just delusional with all his Mega supporters
It should be an international water way.
President taco keeps saying Iran has no military he is absolutely delusional just as all the mega supporters are
Clearly, Iran has US over a barrel. If the US bombs Iran too much, the Iranians or their friends will respond with drones attacking oil production in nearby states. Iran can also launch drones to attack shipping. Trump should have just kept the Obama deal. Now the US is paying a much higher price.
its pretty apparent that the USA is now 100% in control and the skunk bag Iranians are lying as usual
Hail to the Grifter-in-Chief!
United states of Israel and the Zionist terror regime must be stopped. What disgusting monsters think its okay to bomb innocent children? Israel is the source of most of the world’s evil and human suffering. Oct 7th was a false flag attack just like 9/11
To Dave. Are you sure they would benefit? Most of their citizens side with what Iran is doing. Iran is not bombing them. They are attacking US sites in those countries.
They should have wiped Iran off the planet when they had the opportunity
Even the Arab states would benefit by them being eradicated
Reality
July 13, 2026 at 9:51 am
I see Canada and the UK are playing the blame Iran game when it was they who let the terrorists within our countries.
The people of those countries say different. Both countries are being led by f*scist regimes. Yes, the regimes have let in all kinds of g*rbage, much to the peoples dislike but we are being squelched and labelled racists. Our voices and our votes do not matter. Democracy is dead.
I see Canada and the UK are playing the blame Iran game when it was they who let the terrorists within our countries.