Donald Trump Reaffirms U.S. Control as Iran Demands Asset Release to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed American full control over the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran said the waterway would remain closed unless Washington accepts its terms to end the war.

“Brent futures rose 1.4% to settle at $88.91 a barrel”

Reuters

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Tuesday that the Hormuz Strait would remain closed unless the United States accepts Iran’s conditions, including releasing Iranian assets frozen abroad and ending wars in the region, including Lebanon and Gaza.

41NBC News

The dispute unfolded as the United States and the Yemen-based Houthi movement announced two separate attacks on ships in the Gulf of Oman leading to the strait and at the entrance to the Red Sea.

Reuters said oil prices rose and global stocks fell as pessimism about a quick resolution returned, with Brent futures rising 1.4% to settle at $88.91 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate rising 1.3% to $83.20.

In parallel, the U.S. military said a Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the navigation system of a Panama-flagged cargo ship after it ignored repeated warnings to stop violating the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports.

Reuters reported that the Yemeni Transport Ministry said four crew members of a small cargo ship were killed in an attack suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Houthi group in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Saba News Agency, controlled by the Houthi group, said the group “targeted a ship transporting military equipment for Saudi Arabia” in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, without naming the vessel.

Al-Jazirah Net

The United States said it attacked a Panama-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Oman after the crew ignored repeated stop warnings from U.S. forces enforcing the blockade, and Reuters sources said the ship was struck off the coast of Pakistan while sailing into the Gulf of Oman.

In a separate account, the U.S. Central Command said an MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the ship’s engine room after its civilian crew ignored repeated warnings, and CENTCOM added that since August 11 it has redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to breach the blockade, disabled 3 non-compliant ships, and boarded two other vessels.

The Reuters report also said Trump told reporters that the Iran file “is going very well indeed,” and he added, “We have complete control of the Hormuz Strait… nobody else but us, only us.”

The dispute over Hormuz and the blockade pressure fed directly into energy pricing, with teleSUR saying Brent crude futures for October delivery rose 2.46% to trade at $89.88 per barrel after briefly touching $90.02.

“Brent crude futures for October delivery rose 2.46% to trade at $89.88 per barrel”

teleSUR

teleSUR also said the U.S. WTI for September delivery increased 2.67% to $84.32 per barrel as talks between Washington and Tehran stalled and fears of supply disruption grew.

In the Reuters account, the same day’s rhetoric and attacks coincided with Brent futures up 72 cents to $89.63 a barrel by 00:53 GMT, while global stocks fell amid pessimism about a quick resolution.

The IndexBox compilation framed the stakes in terms of conditions for reopening, quoting Rezaei that “As long as America does not change its behavior and accept Iran’s terms, the Hormuz Strait will not be opened.”

Against that backdrop, Reuters reported that before the war about five global oil and natural gas flows passed through the waterway, underscoring why the standoff over passage terms and blockade enforcement remained central to market expectations.