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Hormuz: Competing Claims
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz and wrote on Truth Social, “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT,” as ships remain hesitant to transit the waterway.
““I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!””
Iran’s Basij paramilitary unit head Hossein Taeb asserted on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz is “under Iran's control and management,” according to Reuters citing Iran’s semi-official Fars news.
Reuters also reported that Iran’s joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said later on Thursday that “no vessel could transit the Strait of Hormuz without Tehran's permission.”
CNN reported that the US naval blockade of Iran is still in effect, barring ships from going to or from any Iranian port either inside or outside the strait, while traffic through the strait remains effectively stalled.
CNN added that only 14 vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, compared with roughly 120 ships that used to cross daily before the war, and cited Carl Schuster saying “few merchant shipping companies and their ships are confident that the US can ensure their safe transit of the strait.”
Sanctions, Blockade, and Ships
The dispute over Hormuz is unfolding alongside Washington’s push for economic pressure, with NewsNation saying the Trump administration is leaning on “crippling sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade” to force Iranians back to the table.
NewsNation quoted a U.S. official saying it would be wise for Iran to make a deal with Washington and that Trump will “never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Pete Hegseth told reporters in Panama that “Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we’ll rotate ships in and out,” as the USS Gridley crew was referenced in the report.
CNN said at least four vessels belonging to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked by drones and missiles in the strait last week alone, and it cited UKMTO saying Iran can harass ships with drones and “targeted surveillance of merchant shipping.”
Reuters reported that the Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut after the war began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, and that the U.S. subsequently imposed a naval blockade on Iranian shipping and ports while saying it would protect freedom of navigation for vessels traveling to and from non-Iranian ports.
Yemen, Food Insecurity, and Risk
Beyond Hormuz, NewsNation tied the wider regional picture to Yemen, where a U.N. envoy warned on Thursday that Yemen faces its most serious threat of a return to large-scale war since a U.N.-brokered truce in 2022.
“more than half the country’s population was experiencing acute food insecurity”
NewsNation reported that U.N. envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council that military activity had intensified along Yemen’s frontlines and that renewed Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden risked drawing Yemen further into wider regional confrontation.
NewsNation said U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the council that more than half the population faced acute food insecurity, while 6 million people were at “Emergency” levels of food deprivation bordering on famine.
NewsNation also described a separate incident in which a second missile struck a Yemeni commercial ship just as rescue efforts from an initial strike were underway, with three ballistic missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthis striking the ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, killing six people and injuring at least nine others.
In the same NewsNation report, Zaheer Ahmed, a Pakistani crew member recovering at the port city of Mokha, said, “People were burning … it was a strange scene of doomsday,” as he described shouting for help and a Yemeni soldier coming to his aid.
