Iran’s military announced on Sunday that it was offering a bounty equivalent to $30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers, with the reward doubled if the action was carried out by a woman, state news agency IRNA reported.

Army chief Amir Hatami said the plan had been drawn up following “the large number of requests” to participate in financial support.

There has been no known deployment of US ground forces in Iran during the Middle East war, except for a rescue mission in April for a downed American pilot.

Hatami did not provide details on where or when the killing or capture of US soldiers was expected to take place.

“Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army,” Hatami said, using an informal unit equivalent to 10,000 Iranian rials.

“Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward,” he added.

The war between Tehran and Washington began on Feb. 28 after the United States, joined by Israel, attacked Iran. It was followed by an April ceasefire after nearly 40 days of fighting, and a June framework for peace talks that later collapsed.

Iran and the United States have since traded fire sporadically, with fighting mainly centred in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz.

Frustration is growing among US allies in the Persian Gulf over President Donald Trump’s handling of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict with Iran, with some governments questioning Washington’s reliability as a security partner, the Washington Post reported.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain have increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with the Trump administration after months of conflict and continued attacks by Iran and groups aligned with Tehran, according to the report.

The Gulf states are particularly concerned by what they see as a pattern of Trump issuing threats against Iran before subsequently softening his position while citing progress in negotiations.

Some Gulf governments have reportedly begun discussing whether it remains in their interests to continue hosting major US military facilities on their territory.

“Trump started this war, and we are paying the price,” one Gulf official was quoted as saying, adding that anger toward Washington had reached a peak.

Despite the growing frustration, Gulf countries continue to depend heavily on the United States for security cooperation and arms supplies.

Qatar and Bahrain host major US military facilities in the region.

However, the concerns have prompted some countries to explore alternative security arrangements.

A senior European official told the newspaper that the mutual defence agreement recently signed by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan was a signal to Washington that Gulf and regional powers were seeking to diversify their security partnerships.

“The pact shows the three powerful states are trying to diversify their security and defence partnerships. In their mind, the US is not enough,” the official said.

The White House, however, rejected suggestions that relations with Gulf allies were deteriorating.

A White House official said that Trump had “extraordinary relationships” with US partners in the region and that Washington had remained in regular contact with its allies since before the start of Operation Epic Fury.

“Iran is more isolated than ever before as a result of its terrorist actions,” the official said.

Trump has recently said Washington has two options for dealing with Iran — waiting for its economy to collapse or launching another major military operation.

The US president has also said he plans to announce that the Strait of Hormuz is US territory, a claim that has been rejected by Iran.

Tehran has mocked the proposal, arguing that a strategic international waterway cannot be claimed through a social media post.

Qatar has rejected Iran’s claim that its forces captured three Iranian fighter pilots after their aircraft were shot down during attacks on Qatar in March, describing the allegations as misleading.

Majed Al Ansari, adviser to the Qatari prime minister and Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said Doha “categorically” denied the claims and questioned why they were being raised now, as diplomatic efforts continue to ease regional tensions.

In a post on X on Saturday, Al Ansari said Qatari authorities established contact with the Iranian pilots after they violated Qatar’s airspace and the trajectory of the incoming attack had been confirmed.

He said Qatari forces followed the rules of engagement and unsuccessfully attempted to communicate with the pilots before taking “the necessary measures” to defend the country in accordance with international law.

Al Ansari said the incident had been clarified through official channels at the time.

He added that Qatari search and rescue teams subsequently searched for the pilots’ remains and coordinated with Tehran over the handover of one pilot who was recovered.

According to Al Ansari, Qatar also invited an Iranian team to visit the country in April to receive a briefing on the search and rescue operation, but Tehran has yet to respond to the invitation.

The Qatari statement followed allegations by Iran that three of its pilots had been captured alive after two Su-24 fighter jets were downed during attacks on a military base in Qatar on March 2.

Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Missing Persons Search Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, made the claim in a letter to International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric.

Bagherzadeh said one pilot, Majid Kazemi, was killed, while Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behrouzian were captured alive.

He accused Qatar of violating the pilots’ rights under the Geneva Conventions by preventing them from contacting their families and Iranian officials despite diplomatic efforts over the past six months.

Iran’s Missing Persons Search Committee called on the ICRC to interview the pilots allegedly being held in Qatar, provide Tehran with information about their condition and help secure their release.

The incident took place amid a wider regional conflict, with Iran saying its forces had targeted a military base in Qatar and that two Su-24 fighter jets were hit by air defences.

Qatar has rejected the account, maintaining that its authorities conducted search and rescue operations for the pilots, coordinated with Iran over the recovered remains and offered Tehran an opportunity to review the operation.

Iran and Oman have reached an agreement on a shipping route map for the Strait of Hormuz following weeks of technical negotiations, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has said.

Baghaei told Defa Press that the two coastal states began intensive talks three months ago after signing a June 18 memorandum of understanding aimed at establishing safe navigation routes through the strategic waterway.

“Despite US obstruction, the talks have made positive progress over the past three weeks, and an agreement has been reached on the shipping route map,” he said.

According to Baghaei, the agreement was reached through coordination led by Iran’s Foreign Ministry, with the involvement of the country’s defence, security and environmental authorities.

He said Tehran and Muscat were still working to resolve several outstanding issues, including the wording of a joint statement, and would continue consultations until the process was completed.

Baghaei stressed that the agreement was an independent arrangement between Iran and Oman, designed to ensure safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while respecting the sovereignty of both countries.

However, he said the full restoration of security in the waterway and the return of normal commercial shipping depended on an end to US actions, military threats and the naval blockade, as well as compensation for US violations of commitments made over the past two months.

The negotiations are part of technical talks initiated under an Iran-US memorandum of understanding, which tasked Tehran and Muscat with developing a new navigation framework for the Strait of Hormuz.

While Iran and Oman have continued negotiations on the proposed shipping routes, Tehran has repeatedly maintained that the full reopening of the strategic waterway remains conditional on Washington fulfilling its commitments under the memorandum.

Lebanon said Israeli strikes in the south killed 11 people, including three children, on Saturday, the deadliest raids since deals in June eased hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanese leaders condemned the strikes, which Israel’s military said were in retaliation for an attack by the Iran-backed militant group, with one targeting a Hezbollah commander it accused of using his family as “human shields”.

The strikes came as Israel and Lebanon were set to hold an eighth round of US-sponsored direct negotiations early next month in Rome.

The two sides had agreed a framework deal at talks in Washington in June, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that Saturday’s “violations are a clear message on the negotiations process and American efforts aiming to implement this agreement”.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said the latest strikes “should jumpstart the talks and make them much more serious, not do the opposite”.

Hezbollah said the attacks “will be met with an appropriate response”, urging Lebanese authorities to abandon “the humiliating path of direct negotiations”.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported an airstrike on a home in the village of Ansar and a “series of airstrikes targeting the Ali al-Taher ridge”, a strategic hill overlooking the Nabatieh area.

It later reported another strike on the southern town of Deir Zahrani.

Lebanon’s health ministry said seven people were killed “including three children and two women” in Ansar, where Aoun said “an entire family” had been killed.

Israel’s military said the Ansar attack had killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, acknowledging reports that Hassan’s family was present and maintaining they “were not the target of the strike”.

The health ministry said four other people were killed and 17 wounded, including a child and 11 women, in Deir Zahrani.

‘No justification’

In Ansar, an AFP correspondent saw a destroyed building as rescuers combed the rubble, and a swimming pool clouded and grey from dust and debris.

Abbas Khalil, 60, said he was praying when the strike hit.

“We were shocked… There’s no justification for this,” he told AFP.

Standing next to the murky swimming pool, Mohammed Saab said he waited every year to rent his property out over the summer.

“What do I have here for this to happen?” he said in dismay.

The Israeli army said it struck “Hezbollah terror infrastructure”, later adding that the group had attacked soldiers inside a so-called “security zone” – a strip of territory around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon where Israeli forces are operating.

Three Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded, according to Netanyahu’s office.

In Deir Zahrani, an AFP correspondent saw significant damage and heavy traffic towards the city of Sidon as some people headed north in cars packed with belongings.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that “the women and children who were killed (in Ansar) are not military targets”, urging Israel to halt the “extremely dangerous” escalation.

The Israeli military, however, insisted that Hassan had been a “lawful target”, and accused him of having “used his family as human shields”.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said the attacks were a call “to the sponsors of the negotiations and the ceasefire agreements to bear their responsibility… before it’s too late”.

The framework Israel-Lebanon deal calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in “pilot zones”.

Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman told AFP that Israel stood by the agreement, and voiced hope the Lebanese military would step up “and together we’re going to remove Hezbollah from the picture”.

Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected the deal and opposes the ongoing talks.

Negotiations

The group said that the new attacks reflected a desire by Netanyahu “to escalate the war to strengthen his domestic political position”, with the Israeli leader running for re-election later this year.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with a heavy air campaign and ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

Violence has dropped since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader Middle East war in June and the Israel-Lebanon deal later that month.

But Lebanon still reports intermittent Israeli strikes and broad demolitions of civilian buildings in southern villages and towns.

This week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to keep troops in the “security zone”.

But a US State Department official said “a permanent military presence in south Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework”.

Iran called on the US to ​accept defeat on Saturday, while President Donald Trump blasted Tehran as “very evil” and told Americans to prepare for continued high fuel prices as a result of the war.

Progress towards ‌peace talks and oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz remained halted, with no sign the warring parties were moving towards ending the conflict that the US and Israel launched on February 28.

“This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran’s command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.

US GASOLINE UP 29% ​ON YEAR, IRAN ALSO FEELS IMPACT

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran had not decided to resume talks with the US. He told Iranian news outlet Shahrara News in an interview published on ​Saturday that Washington must meet conditions on the strait in order for shipping to resume in the waterway that handled one-fifth of the world’s oil ⁠before the war.

Trump urged Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices while the conflict continues.

He told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” is ​worth the cost of ensuring “a very evil country” could not have a nuclear weapon, one of his stated rationales for the war.

“After we finish defeating Iran… pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a ​territory of the United States,” said Trump.

Throughout the conflict, the president has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal is imminent.

In a trend that has sparked inflation and disappointed voters, the average US price of a gallon of gasoline was about $4.08 on Friday, up 29% from a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.

Trump, a Republican, campaigned for reelection on a promise to lower energy costs, and Democrats are seeking to make the war’s fallout ​an issue in November congressional elections.

Crude oil futures rose $1 a barrel on Friday. Benchmark Brent futures were on track for a weekly rise of 6.0% and West Texas Intermediate 5.4%.

Tehran, too, has stepped up ​its rhetoric in recent days as attempts to bring a permanent end to the war appear deadlocked.

“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an ‌election speech,” Gharibabadi ⁠said.

Despite Iran’s defiant tone, though, there were also signs of an economic toll there.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, in remarks on state television, blamed high inflation on a US blockade of Iranian ports and sanctions on Iran’s oil exports.

NO CRUDE OIL VESSELS TRANSITING STRAIT

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent each pledged to inflict more financial damage on Iran. Bessent told Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” programme on Thursday that announcements of more measures against Iran were coming next week.

Tehran calls its enforcement of strait traffic a blockade — the term Washington uses for its threat against Iranian vessels leaving their ports.

“What we’re doing is a great service for the world, not ​only for ourselves… and we’re really doing a great ​job,” Trump said.

Only two vessels passed through the ⁠Strait of Hormuz on Friday with no crude oil shipments visible, according to analysis from ship-tracking firm Kpler. Some ships may cross the strait undetected with their transponders off, but the figures are nowhere near the more than 130 ships that traversed it daily before the war.

Vessels that dare navigate the strait ​without Iranian permission risk missile or drone strikes.

The UAE accused Iran of attacking a third vessel operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company that was transiting the ​strait on Friday, the Emirati ⁠state news agency WAM reported, after blaming it for two other incidents involving ADNOC vessels in the strait on Thursday evening.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported a bulk carrier was struck in the hull by an unknown projectile in the strait on Friday. It was not immediately clear if it was referring to the same incident involving the ADNOC vessel.

A tentative June deal to end the war is in tatters.

“We did not ⁠have a ceasefire ​in the first place that we would now want to extend,“ Araqchi said. “We had ‘the end of the war,’ and now ​there is a new situation.”

Attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen renewed concerns about a widening regional war. Yemen’s internationally recognised government said the Houthis fired six ballistic missiles at the Red Sea port of Mocha on Friday, killing four civilians.

US President Donald Trump was joking when he said he would declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory after the war with Iran, a US media report said, citing a senior White House official.

Wall Street Journal reporter Brian Schwartz said on X that Trump had not discussed such a move with his advisers and was joking when he made the remarks during a speech in New York.

“President Trump has not met with his advisers about declaring the Strait of Hormuz a US territory post the war and was joking during his speech today in New York,” Schwartz wrote, citing an unnamed senior White House official.

Trump made the comments at a political rally at the Nassau County Police Academy in Garden City, New York.

“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump told supporters before chuckling and adding: “It’s true.”

Schwartz, who attended the speech, said Trump appeared to chuckle after making the remark but then reiterated that the statement was true.

Trump also claimed that the United States controlled maritime access through the strategically important waterway.

“We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” he said.

Iran disputes US control over Hormuz

Iranian military officials have rejected Washington’s claims of control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s central military command described assertions that the United States controlled the waterway as “baseless lies and fabrications”.

According to data from commodities and shipping analytics firm Kpler cited by CNN, about 3,371 vessels had crossed the strait as of August 12, during the 166 days since the war began.

The figure represented around 20% of pre-war traffic levels.

The United States and Iran agreed to a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire in April and signed a deal on June 17 to begin negotiations aimed at reaching a final agreement.

The talks later stalled over disagreements including security guarantees and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

The two sides also exchanged military strikes between July 8 and 24.

Washington targeted sites inside Iran, while Tehran carried out strikes on what it described as US military facilities and equipment in several Arab countries, including Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

The Strait of Hormuz links the Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and serves as one of the world’s most important routes for energy shipments.

Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Friday after two more ships were ​attacked there and the United States said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely.

A senior Iranian source said on Wednesday that there had been no progress in talks to ‌build on a June agreement to end the war. Since the ceasefire renewed in the June deal broke down, Iran has resumed attacks on ships it accuses of trying to transit the strait without its permission.

The United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said two of its vessels were attacked transiting the strait on Thursday evening. The UAE government blamed Iran, which made no immediate comment.

Two vessels passed through the narrow waterway on Friday, according to analysis from ship tracking firm ​Kpler: a grain ship entering Iranian waters and an empty dry bulk ship going in the other direction.

A separate empty liquefied petroleum products tanker was sailing into the Gulf via the ​strait, the data showed. There were no crude oil shipments visible on Friday.

Nine vessels passed through the strait on Thursday, up from five on Wednesday but ⁠below the average of 12 for August.

Some ships may pass through undetected with their transponders off, but the figures are nowhere near the more than 130 ships that traversed the Strait of Hormuz daily ​before the war launched by the US and Israel on Iran in February.

“Alongside the threat to energy infrastructure in the region, Iran’s ability to restrict shipping through the strait is its main source of leverage in ​negotiations,” said Torbjorn Solvedt, principal Middle East analyst with risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

US PLEDGES NEW MEASURES AGAINST IRAN IN COMING WEEK

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters the US military has the capability to maintain a naval presence in the region to enforce its retaliatory blockade of Iran, which has inflicted severe economic damage on the country.

“Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we’ll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we’ll ​continue to,” Hegseth told reporters during a trip to Panama.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States planned to inflict more financial damage on Iran.

“Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we ​are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country,” he said in an interview on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” programme.

US President Donald Trump is under pressure at home to ‌end an unpopular ⁠war, with high fuel prices dragging down his approval ratings and potentially eroding his party’s control of Congress in midterm elections in November.

Benchmark Brent futures and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were both up slightly at about $87 and $81 a barrel, respectively.

India’s reliance on Russian crude surged to a record in July, while refineries in Asia, a major customer for fuel from the Gulf, bought US crude this week to ensure future supplies.

Trump has repeatedly asserted that the US has “total control” over the strait, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the start of the war.

Iran rejects that, and has said it will ​not allow the waterway to reopen until its ​conditions are met. These include removing economic sanctions ⁠and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

On Thursday, an Iranian parliamentary committee approved Iran’s plan for the strait. It includes a provision banning the transit of US, Israeli and other “hostile” countries’ assets and equipment, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.

The US lifted its blockade of Iran’s shipping and ports for a month in mid-June but ​has since reimposed it, cutting off Tehran’s primary source of hard currency and compounding earlier losses from wartime strikes on its energy infrastructure.

Washington previously said ​it would lift the Iranian ⁠blockade once Iran and Oman, which sit on either side of the strait, reach an agreement to restore commercial shipping.

SHRINKING OIL SUPPLY

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to escalate military strikes and “hit Iran hard”, although he has thus far resisted deploying ground troops or seizing strategic islands and bombing desalination plants. Earlier this week, Trump suggested he would rely on economic means, rather than military action.

The US has tightened economic sanctions against Iran and other individuals and ⁠entities that ​it says are helping it procure weapons, but the pressure campaign has not brought Tehran back to the negotiating table.

Reports that ​Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis had targeted a Saudi Aramco refinery with drones on Thursday renewed concerns about a widening regional war.

Global economists have forecast a sharp drop in global growth, and potentially a swing into recession in some areas, warning that the impact would ​grow if the war was not ended soon.

President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed concerns about the toll on US sailors aboard the USS ​Abraham Lincoln, saying the aircraft carrier’s more than ‌260-day deployment in support of the war with Iran was “not nearly long enough” even as families and lawmakers raised concerns about mental health and ​deteriorating conditions aboard the ship.

In a brief exchange ​with reporters before flying to New York, Trump rejected ⁠suggestions that the deployment had gone on too long.

“No, ​no, no. Not nearly long enough,” Trump said when asked ​whether the carrier’s eight-and-a-half months at sea was excessive.

“That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another ​very similar ship,” Trump said.

The Lincoln left its home port ​of San Diego last November and was later redirected to the Middle ‌East ⁠to support US military operations in the war with Iran.

The carrier has roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard.

The ship has not made a port call in more than ​200 days, setting ​a modern-day ⁠record for consecutive days at sea, according to US Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic member ​of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Several Democratic lawmakers ​have ⁠called for answers after families of sailors raised concerns about worsening mental health, living conditions and supply issues aboard the carrier.

Defence ⁠Secretary ​Pete Hegseth on Thursday pushed back against ​reports of deteriorating conditions aboard the Lincoln, calling them “completely misrepresented.”

A tanker belonging to the UAE’s state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) was targeted while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, a day after two other ADNOC vessels came under attack in the strategic waterway.

The latest incident occurred on the evening of August 14, according to ADNOC.

No injuries were reported, and the situation was brought under control.

ADNOC stressed the importance of protecting the safety and well-being of seafarers, maintaining freedom of navigation and safeguarding maritime security.

The incident came a day after two ADNOC tankers were targeted while passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

No deaths or injuries were reported in that incident either.

The attack was the ​third such incident involving ADNOC vessels in less than a week.

The UAE had accused Iran of ​being behind the earlier attacks, but ​there was no official comment from the UAE on ‌Friday’s ⁠attack.

Qatar and Kuwait condemned the attacks on the ADNOC vessels and expressed solidarity with the UAE.

In separate statements, the two Gulf states described the attacks as a blatant violation of international law and freedom of maritime navigation, as well as a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2817.

Qatar also described the attacks as a “tool of pressure” and called on Iran to halt attacks against neighbouring countries.

Both countries reaffirmed their “full solidarity with the UAE” and support for measures taken by Abu Dhabi to protect its assets.

ADNOC has previously said the ongoing war has had a “significant” impact on its operations but stressed that the safety of its personnel and assets remained its priority.

Iran has not publicly responded to the UAE’s latest allegations regarding the tanker attack.

Iran has not yet decided whether to resume indirect negotiations with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, stressing that messages exchanged through mediators do not amount to a return to talks.

Araghchi also rejected reports that Tehran and Washington need to extend a 60-day ceasefire under the Islamabad Memorandum, a June framework agreement brokered by Pakistan.

“What was included in the Islamabad Memorandum was the end of the war, not a ceasefire,” Araghchi told Iran’s ISNA news agency on Friday.

He said the United States had violated the memorandum and that fighting subsequently resumed, meaning there was no 60-day ceasefire requiring an extension.

According to Araghchi, the 60-day period outlined in the memorandum was intended as a window for negotiations aimed at reaching a final agreement rather than establishing a fixed ceasefire period.

“Both Qatar and Pakistan continue to exchange messages and remain in contact with us, but that does not mean negotiations,” he said.

“No decision has yet been made to resume talks with the United States.”

Araghchi said Iran’s separate negotiations with Oman were continuing, but stressed that they were unrelated to any potential discussions with Washington.

He described the Oman talks as technical negotiations focused on establishing new shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, saying the previous routes were no longer suitable.

“We are currently designing a temporary route that will later become a permanent route,” he said, adding that experts from Iran and Oman, along with members of Iran’s armed forces, were participating in the discussions.

Araghchi said the negotiations could conclude soon but stressed that determining a new shipping route should not be confused with a decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“Once the route is determined, whether the Strait of Hormuz is reopened depends on the fulfilment of other conditions that the United States must comply with,” he said.

Iran has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington could declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory, insisting that control of the strategic waterway remains in Iranian hands.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Friday that the strait could not be seized through political statements or military force.

“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an order, or an election speech,” Gharibabadi said in a post on X.

He accused the United States of refusing to acknowledge what he described as its “strategic and serious defeats” against Iran, saying Tehran was neither intimidated by threats nor deterred by displays of military power.

“The Strait of Hormuz was Iran’s, is Iran’s, and will remain Iran’s,” Gharibabadi said, adding that the waterway would be opened or closed only on Iran’s orders.

He said Iran would continue its blockade of the strait until Washington accepted what he called the reality of its defeat and abandoned its “fantasies”.

Trump had claimed a day earlier that the US Navy was enforcing a complete blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and said he would declare the waterway US territory “very soon” after what he described as the complete defeat of Iran.

The US president also said on Truth Social that Washington had “full control” of the strait and believed it could maintain that control.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said the waterway would remain closed as long as the United States continued its intervention, maintained a naval blockade and failed to meet the requirements of a June framework agreement between Tehran and Washington.

Ibrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam Al Anbiya Central Headquarters, also rejected Trump’s assertion of US control.

“No vessel will be permitted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s permission and supervision,” Zolfaqari said.

US ​President Donald Trump has allowed the Navy to build ships overseas and ordered it to abandon a complex ‌system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead return to using steam catapults, the White House said on Thursday.

Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the change, which would require the fourth vessel in the Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carriers to ​abandon the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used on the first three vessels. The design change is expected to ​cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Huntington Ingalls is the primary contractor building Ford-class aircraft carriers. ⁠Huntington’s shares were up slightly in after-hours trading in New York.

As of March 2026, the USS Gerald R. Ford, ​the lead ship in the new class of carriers, had completed 36,863 EMALS launches, according to Pentagon documents.

The design change will ​occur on the Doris Miller, the fourth ship in the planned Ford class. The keel for the Doris Miller is slated to be laid by the end of 2026 with delivery anticipated by the Navy in early 2034.

Trump has frequently criticised the Navy’s electromagnetic launch system ​as being more expensive and not as effective as steam catapults.

“Billions of dollars more they spent on electric catapults and ​they’re not good. They’re not nearly as good, too complex,” Trump said at a defence summit in Pennsylvania last month.

When the Navy selected ‌EMALS ⁠in 2009, it said it would lower overall lifecycle costs, require less maintenance than steam catapults and generate less physical stress on carrier-based aircraft. The system, also selected by France’s navy, had initial troubles but has since completed thousands of launches.

General Atomics, the maker of EMALS, said in a statement that the decision not to proceed with the system on the Doris Miller ​warranted “careful reconsideration.”

“With nearly 50% of ​production complete, changing course ⁠now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks,” General Atomics said.

The Navy referred requests for comment to the White House.

The memo Trump signed also opens up the Navy to having ​ships made overseas for the first time in decades.

Foreign shipbuilders who have made “substantial and durable ​investments” in ⁠US shipyards “will be temporarily permitted to build up to two ships in their parent shipyards that will be delivered to bridge gaps on a quick turnaround,” to supplement ships built in US shipyards.

Australian shipbuilder Austal said on Tuesday that Hanwha Group had offered ⁠to buy its ​US operations for up to $1.2 billion as the South Korean conglomerate seeks ​to expand in the American defence market.

Trump’s memo also instructed the Secretary of Defence to establish a fifth Navy shipyard to increase submarine and aircraft ​carrier repair capacity.

Kuwait’s once prosperous oil sector has stood largely paralysed for months, with petroleum exports plummeting as fighting raged across the Gulf — triggering the country’s largest crisis in decades.

Half a year into the war, Kuwait remains a hostage to its uncompromising need to access the Strait of Hormuz — where the war between the US and Iran has choked off the once plentiful energy exports that moved across its waters.

Oil has long been the bedrock for the tiny Gulf state’s economy — where more than 90 per cent of government revenue and nearly all export earnings rely on reliable crude sales. The country is also home to roughly six per cent of total oil reserves globally.

Unlike Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait has no pipelines bypassing the strait — forcing its crude exports to sail through the contested waterway to the international market.

“Without a doubt, this is the toughest and biggest crisis that we have faced in the oil sector in Kuwait since the 1990 invasion by Iraq,” said Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) chief executive Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah.

Then, as Saddam Hussein’s forces retreated from a US-led onslaught to liberate Kuwait, the Iraqi army torched hundreds of wells, destroyed massive storage tanks and targeted refineries — causing catastrophic damage to much of the country’s oil sector.

‘Crisis’

Kuwait has been spared the same levels of destruction during this war but has not emerged unscathed.

Just days into the war, the state-owned KPC declared force majeure — a legal manoeuvre that protects an enterprise when they cannot meet its contractual obligations due to unforeseeable events, like wars and natural disasters.

The notice was lifted in June.

The country has also weathered repeated waves of Iranian strikes targeting water desalination plants and energy installations, including petroleum infrastructure, along with salvos aimed at US military bases.

“This crisis has presented us with a new challenge,” Al-Sabah told AFP during an exclusive interview from a temporary office space he relocated to after KPC’s headquarters was hit by a drone strike in April.

Before the war, Kuwait was producing slightly more than 2.6 million barrels of oil per day, with an ambitious plan to reach 4 million barrels daily by 2040.

“Once the strait is open, it reverts to free movement, then we can easily go back to our pre-war production levels and even higher,” said Al-Sabah.

But when asked how much Kuwait was now able to deliver on a given day, the executive refused to provide a figure.

“It’s something that — during this crisis — we prefer to keep to ourselves,” he told AFP.

According to preliminary official data, Kuwait’s economy contracted 4.6 per cent year-on-year during the first quarter of 2026, with its oil-sector GDP collapsing by 12.5 per cent.

The true toll is likely more damning, with available economic data only accounting for the first month of the conflict.

‘In our blood’

Kuwaitis have largely remained resilient in the face of the war, despite Iranian attacks and talk of a Tehran-backed military buildup at the nearby Iraq-Iran border.

At night, lights at most of the country’s major energy installations, including power stations and water plants, have been switched off.

Scaffolding has also been constructed around many of Kuwait’s storage tanks — where vast quantities of crude are held — hoping to protect the structures from any future strikes.

“We have recovered from worse. We are Kuwait. Resistance is in our blood,” Noura, 45, told AFP at the historic Al-Mubarakiya market.

But in private conversations, Kuwaitis are much more frank, with some criticising American forces or lambasting US President Donald Trump’s willingness to continue the war.

Al-Sabah insists the company is working tirelessly to execute contingency plans and said storage tanks outside of the region have helped buffer the strait crisis.

But even with such plans, experts said the strait’s fate remains crucial to Kuwait’s future.

“Kuwait’s dependence on Hormuz has become a strategic vulnerability,” said Amena Bakr, head of Middle East insights at Kpler.

According to Bakr, estimates predict that Kuwait’s oil production could likely be restored to pre-war levels in two to three months.

“The country does have financial resources to withstand a serious temporary shock,” said Bakr.

“But the longer the war drags on, the more the economy is exposed to the risks of not having a safe export route for this oil.”

But Al-Sabah warned there was “no substitute” for unfettered access to the strait.

“If you do not have free flow of hydrocarbons through the Strait of Hormuz and free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, you will end up with another energy crisis very quickly,” he said.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum is the only way to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Dar made the remarks during a meeting with US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker in Islamabad on Friday, where the two sides discussed Pakistan-US bilateral relations, cooperation and recent developments in the region.

According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, the meeting covered bilateral ties, cooperation in various areas and the evolving regional situation.

Baker appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability, the statement said.

Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to protecting its national interests while contributing to peace and security in the region.

He stressed that implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum was the only solution to achieving lasting peace in the region.

The memorandum, reached through Pakistan’s mediation between Iran and the United States on June 18, is set to expire within days. Under the agreement, Iran and the US had agreed to resolve issues, including a ceasefire and a permanent end to the conflict, through negotiations.

However, tensions escalated in July after disagreements between the two sides over the security of the Strait of Hormuz and other issues. The US launched airstrikes on Iran, prompting Tehran to target US interests in Gulf countries.

Pakistan has continued diplomatic efforts to promote a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi recently met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran. Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other senior officials from both countries also attended the meeting.

Iranian media subsequently reported that recent diplomatic efforts by Pakistan and Qatar had given fresh impetus to regional peace efforts. Turkish news agency Anadolu also reported that Naqvi had shared new proposals with the Iranian leadership during the meeting.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also recently indicated that talks between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz could yield a breakthrough soon.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Asif said developments were moving towards peace and that signals emerging over the previous few days suggested the issue was close to being resolved.

The top US priority now in the Iran war is no longer its nuclear programme but to bring gasoline prices down for American consumers, the vice president said on Thursday, with the treasury secretary adding that new economic punishment to wear down Tehran is imminent.

The comments by Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent illustrate the powerful leverage Tehran has gained by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.

Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — consistently touted by President Donald Trump as his main reason for the war — now takes a back seat to getting oil flowing again freely through the strait, Vance said on Fox News.

Vance’s comments underscored the stark reality that the war now centres on control of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical fuel supply conduit that was open before Trump started the war along with Israel in late February.

Iran has all but shut it down in retaliation and thus found a crucial bargaining chip against Trump as he struggles to find a way out of the war and shies away from resuming large-scale attacks.

The 80-year-old president’s approval rating is plummeting, the war is unpopular among Americans, and midterm elections are approaching in November.

Republicans fear Trump and the war, which has caused gasoline prices to soar, will cost them their control of Congress.

“I know that oil is down today and it’s way down from the highs in the early days of the conflict,” Vance said on Fox News. “That’s goal number one — keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.”

“And then obviously goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” he added.

‘Low-keying it’

The vice president has been among the members of the administration most sceptical of the offensive launched against Iran in late February.

These remarks, however, appear to confirm the more cautious approach now favoured by the US president, which involves maintaining strong economic pressure on Iran by blockading its ports and preventing it from selling oil.

Heralding more economic punishment, Bessent threatened to subject Iran to economic isolation “like the world has never seen before.” He said new measures are expected next week.

Only days ago Trump had said an agreement to reopen the strait was imminent. Now his administration seems to be digging in, with diplomacy on hold as he hopes economic suffering will cause Iran to yield.

“We are low-keying it,” Trump said Sunday. “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump told the news outlet Axios.

The US military reportedly burned through stockpiles of costly high-tech missiles and other weapons in the months since the war started at a cost of billions and is now reportedly running low, limiting Trump’s options for resuming attacks on Iran.

“Sometimes we’re focused on the energy piece of it because we want Americans to be able to afford the price of oil and gas. Sometimes we’re obviously focused on the military… on the nuclear program,” Vance also said.

Trump had said recently he would hold off on attacking Iran again only if an agreement were reached quickly to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Now Iran has set a list of conditions for reopening the passageway that the Trump administration is unlikely to accept: an end to the war on all fronts, the lifting of the US blockade of Iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage.

Those conditions echo the terms of a so-called memorandum of understanding which was reached in June and collapsed as fighting resumed. It included a provision to create a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran.

Iran warned on Thursday of environmental degradation in the Strait of Hormuz after an oil spill reached its southern Qeshm island, calling for compensation from those responsible.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the slick had “degraded the waters” of the Gulf and Sea of Oman, claiming “preliminary evidence indicates a foreign bulk carrier as the source”.

TankerTrackers, a US-hosted website that monitors shipping movements worldwide, said however that the spill seemed to derive from an Iranian attack on bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer in Omani waters on August 3.

“The spillage then drifted across the strait over to Iran,” it said.

Baqaei wrote on X that such spills have in “recent decades imposed trillions of dollars in damage on Iran’s coastal areas”, calling for compensation.

“Every party that benefits from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz carries both a legal and a moral obligation to remediate the environmental harm inflicted,” he added.

The spill had reached Qeshm island but had been “almost completely cleaned up by Wednesday evening”, said Habib Masihi, head of the environmental protection department in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan.

He said about 32,000 square metres of coastal area had been affected, along with waters covering 90,000 square metres.

“The oil pollution on the southern coast of Qeshm is just one example of the widespread pollution that has destroyed the region’s marine ecosystem over the past few decades,” added Sheena Ansari, the head of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organisation.

“Who is responsible for compensating for the damage? The countries consuming energy exports from our region or the aggressors who have made this region a staging ground for military operations?” Ansari posted to X on Thursday.

Iran has maintained control over the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of the Middle East war on February 28, blocking the passage of ships carrying energy exports from US-allied countries in the Gulf.

It has said it plans to charge navigational fees from passing vessels to fund services including environmental protection.

The United States and some regional countries have expressed opposition to any fees.

The spill comes after another slick in recent days near neighbouring Oman from a tanker that ran aground.

An AFP investigation previously found the ship had been stranded for weeks near Oman’s Al-Qibliyyah island after it was damaged by explosions.

Iran’s military on Thursday rejected as “lies” remarks by US President Donald Trump claiming control of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the strategic waterway was fully under Iranian control.

“The false claims of the United States that ships are passing through the Strait of Hormuz normally… are nothing more than lies and fabrications,” said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran’s central military command, Khatam-al Anbiya.

“The Strait of Hormuz is, as in the past, under the complete management and control of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and no commercial ship or tanker without the permission and supervision of the powerful Iranian armed forces has had and will have the possibility of safe passage through this strait,” he said in a video carried by state television.

Iran has kept control of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit, since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway.

In a Wednesday Truth Social post, Trump claimed that the US “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!”

“Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” he added.

On Thursday, the head of Iran’s paramilitary Basij forces under the Revolutionary Guards also said that the strait was under Iranian control.

“Today, you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic republic, and our country continues on its path in complete security,” said Hossein Taeb according to state television.

Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said the US makes miscalculations in regard to the waterway.

“The U.S. has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures. Case in point: The war on Iran. Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait of Hormuz,” he said on X.

Iranian parliamentarian and member of the national security commission Behnam Saeedi said the strait is closed to US and Israeli ships.

“Ships belonging to the Zionist regime will not have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under any circumstances, whether in war or peacetime,” he told state TV, adding that “US military ships will also be barred from passing through the Strait”.

Iran and Oman have been in talks to establish a new route through the strait, but negotiations have not yet been finalised.

Tehran, however, says even if the talks produce a new route, that would not on its own open the waterway unless the US meets Iran’s demands.

Iran and the United States remain at ​loggerheads over efforts to agree on a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source, who said there ‌had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a time frame to implement it.

The comments came as US President Donald Trump issued yet another broadside against Iran’s leaders, dealing a further blow to hopes for a resolution to the crisis, following new attacks on shipping in the region on Tuesday.

The deal agreed in June declared an “immediate and permanent ​termination of military operations on all fronts”, but quickly unravelled, with Trump saying it was “over” on July 7 and Iran’s foreign ministry declaring it “suspended” ​a week later.

The US accuses Iran of failing to honour an agreement under the deal to reopen the vital Strait ⁠of Hormuz shipping route.

Tehran says Washington has reneged on its commitments, including lifting a blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

“One of the issues ​that is being discussed via mediators is the US returning to the interim agreement and defining a time frame for implementing the commitments. There has been absolutely no ​progress on this issue,” the Iranian source said.

Trump said on Wednesday that the US has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz.

But the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the body Iran set up to manage the waterway, said it remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted.

“Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer,” ​Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is imminent.

‘No talk of extension’

Thousands ​of people have been killed in the conflict, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.

Iran has struck US assets and ‌infrastructure in ⁠countries including Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The June interim ceasefire agreement set a 60-day period, extendable by mutual consent, within which Iran and the US were expected to reach a final deal limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme and lifting US sanctions.

The Iranian source dismissed a report on Wednesday from Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that quoted Pakistani government sources as saying they had agreed to extend that 60-day period.

“There is no talk of an extension because, from Iran’s perspective, ​there is no period that began and ​therefore nothing to extend. The United ⁠States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later,” the source told Reuters.

Iran rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims that Washington has full control of the Strait of Hormuz and that the vital waterway has reopened.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the body Iran set up to manage the waterway, rejected claims by US officials, saying the Strait of Hormuz remains closed until Tehran’s demands are met.

“The claims and repeated posts by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality,” the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) said in a post on X on Wednesday.

“The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted,” it added.

Iran had declared the vital global energy chokepoint closed in response to US-Israeli aggression against the country between February 28 and April 7.

Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding in June aimed at ending the cycle of hostilities triggered by the aggression.

Iran subsequently reopened the strait but later reinstated the closure, accusing Washington of interfering with a legal transit mechanism Tehran had established for vessels passing through the waterway under the agreement.

Earlier this month, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said the Strait of Hormuz would only be reopened after Iran’s conditions were met.

These included a permanent end to US aggression against Iran and its regional allies, the lifting of US naval blockade and sanctions, the return of Iran’s frozen assets, and compensation for damage caused by the aggression.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy transit routes, with disruptions to shipping through the waterway posing risks to global oil and gas supplies.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon on Wednesday, vowing to destroy infrastructure and keep troops in a so-called “security zone” as well as in Syria and Gaza.

The comments came almost two months after Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-sponsored framework deal that involves the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon’s south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as “pilot zones”.

The United States plans new talks in early September in Rome between Israel and Lebanon.

Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have repeatedly vowed not to withdraw from the “security zone” in southern Lebanon — a strip of territory where Israeli forces operate that reaches around 10 kilometres (six miles) into Lebanon.

“As the prime minister and I have clearly stated, we are not withdrawing from this security zone,” Katz said during a visit to troops, according to a statement from his office.

The Israeli military “is here to protect the northern communities and its own forces. We will clear this area and guarantee the security of the residents of the north. We will in no way withdraw from the security zones: not in Lebanon, not in Syria, and not in Gaza,” he added.

In southern Lebanon, Katz said the military was “destroying the underground infrastructure” in the area and “destroying all the houses”.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in early March with rocket fire aimed at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

Israel has also carried out repeated incursions and bombings in Syria since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, saying it sought to establish a demilitarised zone in the country’s south.

In Gaza, Israeli forces occupy more than 60 per cent of the war-battered territory.

Last week, Netanyahu rejected a US-led plan for Gaza endorsed by Hamas, saying the Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed, and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens”.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States is in control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and will “keep it.”

“The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed the United States controls the strait, which is vital for the flow of energy and other commodity shipping through the Middle East.

However, Iran says it effectively controls much of the waterway and intends to impose a toll system in response to the US war launched by Trump on February 28.

Late Tuesday, Trump told reporters: “We have total control over the Hormuz Strait right now. They don’t have control. We have total control. We own it.”

US and Israeli forces have heavily bombed Iran’s military and killed a swath of the country’s leadership so far in the nearly six-month war, launched initially with goals including forcing Tehran to abandon its nuclear power program and regime change.

Iran has resisted with missile attacks on US bases in the region, Israel and targets in US-allied Gulf countries.

Its most effective response has been to strike shipping in Hormuz, effectively snarling the trade route, rattling the world economy.

With his political popularity sinking at home ahead of the November midterm congressional elections, Trump has backed off threats to escalate the war in search of a decisive victory.

That leaves the war in a standoff.

However, the Republican says that the United States is prepared to focus on blockading Iranian ports in a strategy that he told Axios was “low-keying.”

“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump told Axios on Sunday.

A US helicopter fired missiles on Tuesday into the engine room of a Panama-flagged cargo ship that attempted to break the American blockade of Iran’s ports, the United States military said.

The US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired on and disabled the M/V Vela Nova “after the ship’s civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X, adding that the vessel “is no longer transiting to Iran in violation of the US blockade.”

It was the third time the United States, in a months-long war against Iran, has forcibly halted a vessel since reinstating the ports blockade on July 14.

CENTCOM said it has redirected 55 ships that tried to run the blockade and boarded two others as of Tuesday.

US forces previously blockaded Iranian ports from April 13 to June 18, during which they disabled nine ships and redirected more than 140, according to CENTCOM.

Iran has demanded that the United States end the ports blockade as part of its conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit for oil and gas shipments before the war that has seen traffic plummet due to Tehran’s attacks on ships in the area.

US President Donald Trump repeated his frequent claim Tuesday that the United States has taken over the waterway.

“We have total control over the Hormuz Strait right now. They don’t have control. We have total control. We own it,” Trump told reporters.

There have been no talks on extending ‌a ceasefire between Iran and the US under an interim deal, with Iran saying that Washington must return to the pact and define a timeframe to implement its commitments, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The source’s comments came after Turkiye’s Anadolu ​news agency, citing Pakistani government sources, reported that Tehran and Washington had agreed to extend a ​60-day ceasefire under their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

“One of the issues that is being discussed ⁠via mediators is the US returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing its ​commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue,” the source said.

The interim deal signed in June between ​Tehran and Washington declared an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts”, but quickly unravelled, with US President Donald Trump saying on July 7 that the pact was “over”. Tehran has repeatedly accused Washington of consistently violating its commitments.

“There is no ​talk of an extension because … the United States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached ​and withdrew from it a few days later,” the source told Reuters.

In the agreement, the 60-day period refers to an ‌extendable timeframe within which Iran and the US were expected to reach a final deal, which would include larger issues, including the fate of Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

A series of requirements, such as a ceasefire in Lebanon, free navigation in the Gulf and waivers for Iran to sell its oil, were viewed as necessary before ​entering the further negotiation ​period.

However, efforts to secure ⁠a lasting peace have hit an impasse over a range of issues, including disagreements over the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran says the vital shipping route will remain closed ​as long as the US does not change its behaviour and accept Iran’s conditions to end the war, including the unfreezing of Iranian funds overseas.

After the start of the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively shut the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and ⁠liquefied natural ​gas was shipped.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that ​Iran and the US are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches the interim ​deal, adding that messages are being exchanged via intermediaries Pakistan and Qatar.

The United States and Iran have agreed in principle to extend a 60-day ceasefire under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, with the current deadline set to expire on August 17, a media report said on Wednesday.

A source close to the mediation process told Turkish news agency Anadolu that both sides had conveyed their consent to mediators to extend the deadline.

“Both sides have conveyed their consent to the mediators to extend the deadline,” the source said.

However, the two countries are still exchanging messages to determine the duration of the extension, the source added.

The United States and Iran agreed to a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire in April and subsequently signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding on June 17, paving the way for negotiations aimed at reaching a broader agreement.

The talks later stalled over disagreements on security guarantees and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global energy supplies and international trade.

The latest development comes after the two sides exchanged military strikes between July 8 and July 24.