Iran · 17 September, 2026 · 3 min read
Trump Weighs Annihilating Iran After UKMTO Reports Tanker Hit in Strait of Hormuz
Trump weighs launching large-scale Iran attack after tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz. UKMTO: tanker hit near Hormuz; Iran claims strikes on crossing ship.
Whether Trump is leaning to escalation or diplomacy.
10 of 11 outlets skipped it: US spent nearly $40bn on the war, driving US inflation.
Al Jazeera was read line by line by the Watchdog: 4.4. See the score →
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TTimes of Israel
“Trump said on Thursday that he was approaching a major decision on whether to resume large-scale attacks on Iran”Read the original ↗
Al Jazeera
“President Donald Trump says the United States is “hopefully toward the end” of its war with Iran”Read the original ↗
Times of Israel foregrounds renewed strike escalation, while Al Jazeera foregrounds diplomacy claims as the war nears an end.
Hormuz attacks and Trump
In the Strait of Hormuz, a tanker was hit by a projectile and a fire was extinguished, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO), while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it struck a Togo-flagged ship over an “illegal crossing.”
“a tanker was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz early Friday”
President Donald Trump told Axios that he is poised to make a “big decision” on whether to launch a major assault to “annihilate” the Iranian regime, saying, “I have a big decision coming up.”
The CBS News update also described a state-choreographed mobilization in Iran, with Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh telling IRNA that more than 600,000 people had registered to participate and IRNA estimating that more than 300,000 people took to the streets on Friday.
In the same CBS News account, the rally included chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” and some participants trampled flags of the U.S. and Israel.
Earlier historical context in the CBS News report placed the war’s expansion in the region in the context of attacks launched jointly by the U.S. and Israel at the end of February, with Gulf leaders expected to meet Trump next week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
Diplomacy claims and GOP splits
While Trump said he is “hopefully toward the end” of the war and told reporters he had spoken with Iranian officials “directly,” Al Jazeera reported that there was still no confirmation from Tehran that direct negotiations with Washington have resumed.A
Al Jazeera also quoted Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accusing Trump of sending “mixed signals” and saying “no talks until Iran’s conditions are met.”A
As Trump weighs next steps, the Guardian reported that Republicans are increasingly breaking with him on Iran, including Mariannette Miller-Meeks saying, “I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump.”
The Guardian added that Zach Nunn justified his vote by noting his state “has already paid a devastating price” in the conflict, with two Iowans among the US soldiers killed by Iranian attacks as the war began.
In a separate historical thread, the Guardian described the House considering its sixth war powers resolution on Tuesday evening, with three Republicans who had not supported previous efforts voting for passage.
Costs, ammunition, and next risks
As the war continues, El País reported that a congressional report estimated spending through August had hovered around $40 billion, while the Pentagon inspector general acknowledged shortages in ammunition stockpiles.
“Direct cost to the United States exceeded $38.1 billion as of August 1”
El País said the direct cost to the United States exceeded $38.1 billion as of August 1, and that each additional month of fighting is expected to add between $2–3 billion more.
The Guardian’s political account tied the conflict’s stakes to midterm pressure, noting that the House vote took place as polling from the New York Times and Siena University showed likely voters preferred Democrats over Republicans for Congress by nearly nine percentage point.
El País also reported that the CBO estimated U.S. forces have exhausted between one-half and two-thirds of their stockpiles of costly interceptors since June 2025, and that restoring inventories to pre-June 2025 levels could take five years or more.
In the same El País account, the Pentagon inspector general’s assessment warned of “shortages in strategic inventories” and “revealed bottlenecks in the industrial base for munitions resupply,” while also warning that Iranian attacks had damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and facilities at U.S. bases across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.