• US President Donald Trump has announced an unprecedented “crushing economic operation” against Iran after Tehran failed to reach a deal with Washington, warning that any country offering Iran a lifeline would face severe financial retaliation.
• He also said the US may resume talks with Iran at “some point”, stating that American demands remain focused strictly on preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
• Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, says the US is seeking an “honourable exit” from the Middle East.
• An Iranian lawmaker says a Strait of Hormuz plan under discussion with Oman would place the waterway under the control of Iran’s armed forces.

US public debt passes $40 trillion for the first time

US public debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time as defence spending, social programs, and mounting interest payments on the growing deficit consume a massive share of federal spending, The Associated Press reports, citing Treasury Department data.

The milestone came just five months after US debt hit a previous record of $39 trillion in March, and arrived earlier than forecasters had expected, driven in part by billions of dollars in lost revenue from Trump’s invalidated tariffs, which forced the Treasury to borrow more rapidly to cover government bills.

The debt figure highlights the administration’s competing priorities, ranging from increased defence spending – which the US relies on to carry out Trump’s war on Iran – to reducing the cost of fuel and food.

The debt has more than doubled in less than a decade during the presidencies of Trump and Joe Biden, and has quadrupled in less than 20 years, according to the AP report.

Trump announces ‘most crushing’ economic operation against Iran

Trump has announced on Truth Social a “crushing economic operation” against Iran, describing it as “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale”, calling it “economic D-Day”.

He said any country that aids Iran or does business with it will face “tremendous economic consequences”. He added that “these maniacs are on the ropes” and that “these historic measures will cripple them.” The announcement comes as US-Iran talks remain deadlocked.

Trump’s latest threat focuses on economic pressure rather than renewed threats of military action, while questions remain over what new measures could be imposed beyond those already in place. The target audience may also include the American public.

This exaggeration is no other than alleged pressure on the UAE to decide to halt all trade with Iran, as the latter does not serve both the UAE and Iran.

What does international law say when a attacking war belligerent presses a co-belligerent country to end all trade with a country the belligerent is attacking because of political motives?

In the context of the war on Iran:

• international law considers treats non-military economic pressure and political demands  a severe coercion, which violate the sovereign principle of non-intervention.
• International law prohibits states from using unlawful coercion to dictate another nation's sovereign political or economic choices.

Oil holds steady as investors monitor US-Iran war and shipping security

Oil prices have stabilized in early trade on Thursday, with Brent crude futures for October delivery gaining 25 cents, or 0.3 percent, to reach $91.87 a barrel as of 00:37 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for September slipped 2 cents to trade at $85.81 a barrel, while the more active October WTI contract gained 14 cents, or 0.2 percent, to reach $84.53.

The movement came after both Brent and WTI benchmarks gained for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, according to Reuters, settling at their highest levels since July 24 as investors assessed the outlook for the US-Iran war and the security of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state outlets mock Trump claims of ‘crushing’ economic measures

Iranian state-aligned media outlets have mounted a unified defence after Trump announced the most “crushing economic operation” in history against Iran, asserting that Iran’s military capabilities are crippled and its economy is near total collapse.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency labeled the measures a continuation of Washington’s failed “maximum pressure” campaign. Dismissing Trump’s remarks as “grand, exaggerated language”, Tasnim maintained that previous sanctions had failed to change Iran’s behaviour, and that the country has long perfected methods to bypass foreign trade and financial restrictions.

Meanwhile, the Fars news agency dismissed Trump’s claims as “delusional”, framing them as part of recurring propaganda. Fars said that the US had repeatedly voiced assertions of Iran’s “imminent collapse” and military destruction without delivering concrete results, adding that the claims served primarily as psychological warfare rather than a reflection of reality.

Iran’s FM says Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day’ will bring ‘further defeat’ to US

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s newly announced sanctions campaign, calling the “so-called ‘Economic D-Day'” a diversion from domestic American issues.

In a post on X, Araghchi claimed the move was designed to distract from Washington’s “unprecedented debt & surging interest costs”.

Warning that “doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat,” Araghchi added that US “economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.”

US sanctions on Iran could test ties with China, Iraq, Turkiye, economist says

Professor Nader Habibi of Brandeis University said that China would be the primary target of the threatened sanctions against countries aiding Iran, followed by Iraq and Turkiye.

He said the UAE’s recent trade embargo on Iran was likely “induced” by the US after conversations between officials. Habibi said enforcement would be a challenge, particularly with China, as the Chinese government has warned its entities not to cooperate with US sanctions, while ground trade with Turkiye and Iraq would be difficult to stop.

US using ‘anaconda strategy’ to finish off Iran

Ali Akbar Dareini, an analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies in Tehran, has said that Trump is using the “anaconda strategy” to end a war he has so far been unable to win.

“This strategy is aimed at suffocating the enemy economically and politically before inflicting a military strike,” Dareini told Al Jazeera. “Similar to how the anaconda snake coils around its prey and suffocates it, the US is pursuing this strategy because what it has done in the past five months has failed.”

Dareini, however, argued Iran has been able to withstand sanctions in the past and will do so again. “Trump is stuck in a war he can’t win and he can’t get out of,” he said.

Gharibabadi says US heading towards ‘next failure’ in war with Iran

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, has reacted to Trump’s announcement of a “crushing economic operation”.

Without openly mentioning Washington, Gharibabadi said there had been “miscalculations”.

“They are forced to create a bigger defeat for themselves each time to cover it up,” the Iranian official wrote on X. “The military war did not work, so now they have called the next failure ‘economic war’.”

Enforcing sanctions on countries that trade with Iran will be “very difficult,” analyst says

Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar said that “it is going to be very difficult” for US President Donald Trump to enforce “economic consequences” on countries that do business with Iran.

He said “Trump is trying to unilaterally assert the kind of coordinated sanctions that traditionally has taken multilateral coordination, and that means getting on board China, Russia, the P5 of the UN Security Council.”

He added that these sanctions could potentially “yield results” for the United States, if Trump managed to implement them.

Musgrave also said that “one advantage” for the US is that “Tehran’s trade is concentrated with a very small number of other countries, and that includes, of course the UAE which has suspended trade.”

‘There are limits to what the US can do’

The scale of US economic leverage should not be underestimated, according to Hassan Barari, a professor of international relations at the University of Jordan.

Al-Barari said that the importance of the US market to major global economies leaves countries like China and India vulnerable to US pressure. “The American market is very important to both the Chinese and Indian economies, so these countries could be affected if they don’t cooperate with the United States, and Iran cannot compensate them for that,” he said.

However, Barari said that while Washington’s naval blockade is “inflicting very significant damage on the Iranian economy”, US power has limits too.

Iran’s framing of the conflict as existential has successfully rallied citizens “around the flag, around the state, not the regime”, Barari argued, describing it as a dynamic that Trump and other war advocates fail to grasp, though he noted that Tehran’s capacity to hold out is not unlimited.

“We cannot underestimate the significance and danger of the American move for the Iranian street, nor can we underestimate the Iranians’ desire to at least emerge strategically on equal footing with the United States,” the professor said.

Sanctions the US has imposed on Iran since the war began

Trump threatens to launch a “crushing economic operation” on Iran, but is already waging an economic war since February 28th:

• Iranian energy exports: The US has targeted Iran’s oil trade to disrupt the government’s primary revenue stream. It imposed new sanctions on Iran’s military oil trade by targeting more vessels involved in transporting Iranian crude oil and took measures against Iranian oil shipping magnate Hossein Shamkhani. Additionally, it imposed sanctions on an independent Chinese refinery and nearly 40 other targets, including vessels and their respective owners or managers, that it claimed were facilitating Iran’s oil exports. It also targeted a network of individuals, entities ‌and tankers smuggling Iranian-origin liquid petroleum gas disguised as Omani LPG to South and East Asia.
• Banking and foreign exchange networks: The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against nine firms and four people in the business network of sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani. It also took aim at Ali Ansari, a key financier for Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and 13 other individuals and entities. Following reports that Iran was resorting to crypto currencies to circumvent US measures, it sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s biggest crypto currency exchange. Billions of dollars of Iranian funds remain frozen across international banks due to US sanctions.
• Weapons procurement: The Treasury announced sanctions against 10 individuals and companies, including several in China and Hong Kong, over accusations they aided Iran’s efforts to secure weapons and the raw materials needed ‌to build its Shahed drones and ballistic missiles. In a separate set of measures, it similarly targeted 14 people and companies, including some based in Turkiye and the UAE.
• Iranian proxies and their financing: Washington sanctioned seven senior commanders of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias.

Iran has been under international sanctions for decades. The United States imposed sanctions on Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled pro-Western ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi.

China pushes back against Trump’s talk of economic warfare against Iran

China has slammed the US president’s “economic D-Day” campaign against Iran, saying more sanctions will not help solve the outstanding issues.

“Imposing sanctions and pressuring do not help to solve the issue,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing. “China calls on relevant parties to take responsible measures and solve the issues through diplomatic and political means.”

China would be particularly affected by the measures, as it buys more than 80 percent of Iran’s shipped oil, 2025 data ⁠from analytics firm Kpler shows.

How will new US measures against Iran impact China?

Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, said that President Trump’s announcing sweeping sanctions on Iran is “clearly aimed at China”.

“I think that this is a way for the United States to find a new front or to expand its efforts on the economic front.”

China is Iran’s second biggest trading partner making up 26 percent of overall imports, amounting to around $17.8bn. China also relies on Tehran for mineral fuels and oils, organic chemicals, as well as plastics.

After the UAE suspended all trade and financial transactions with Iran, China became their biggest trade partner.

“If President Trump were to actually begin aggressive secondary sanctions on China, then there would be a real possibility that this would continue to spill over”, says Musgrave.

“Of course China has signaled that it doesn’t want to participate in any wider form of sanctions, but it’s also not helping Iran”, he added.

The analyst also pointed out that President Trump wouldn’t be wanting “to risk this economic relationship” between the US and China given that the two countries are “in kind of an economic cold war at the moment”.

Trump’s economic warfare on Iran shows US has tools, but no strategy

The US can continue to pressure Iran economically, but its end goal remains unclear, a former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, has said.

Jennifer Gavito said it was indisputable that US sanctions have been crippling the Iranian economy and that Washington can still increase the pressure on Tehran. “The US still has tools – that being said, these are tools and not a strategy,” the analyst said.

“The United States can continue to pressure the Iranian economy, but I think that the big question is to what end,” she continued. “I don’t think that there has been an indication to date that economic pressure leads to the capitulation of the danger.”

US appears to want to expand its economic fury campaign

US President Donald Trump has promised that there will be economic warfare at an unprecedented scale, but we still haven’t seen a new executive order to this end, or even the countries that specifically the US president is targeting.

There are a couple of tools that are available already at the president’s disposal. One is an executive order that was signed back in February. It allows for 25 percent tariffs against countries that do business with Iran.

There is a possibility that Treasury could impose further punitive sanctions and essentially try to isolate countries that have been working or involved with Tehran’s commerce system.

This could be not only countries, it could also be ports, airlines, companies or vessels.

There’s a broad swathe of different areas that could be targeted.

What this looks like is really just an expansion of the tools that are already in place, and the goal, it seems, is really to expand the economic fury campaign that was launched several months ago alongside the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Economic pressure unlikely to work as Iran bypasses US measures

The two rounds of US war against Iran earlier this year show that the decades-long economic pressure Washington has imposed on the country did not work, says Mostafa Khoshcheshm, professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Tehran.

He said that Iran has been able to rely on other routes, including trade with its neighbors, for critical imports and access to financial markets.

Trump’s talk of economic pressure, rather than military action, was a way to stabilise the markets and keep oil prices down. “I believe he will then resort to military action, alongside Israel, in the fall,” Khoshcheshm said.

Trump sanctions threat ‘pompous words without content’

Iranian academic Mostafa Khoshcheshm described Trump’s latest comments as a continuation of Washington’s previous sanctions policy rather than a significant new measure.

“We believe it’s nonsense,” said Khoshcheshm, professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Technology.

“This is a reminiscence of his military plans that shows nothing in essence. Some pompous words without content.”

The US had already imposed sanctions on Iran over a range of issues, including its nuclear program, ballistic missile development, regional activities and human rights record.

“He was like a literature teacher teaching archaic stories, the old sanctions,” Khoshcheshm added.

He also characterized sanctions as the final step before military action, arguing that Washington would have resorted to force earlier if economic pressure had succeeded in compelling Tehran to change course.

“The sanctions are the last station, the last step before a war,” he said. “If they could, you know, capitulate Iran, then they would have never ever resorted to military action.”

Iran strongly condemns new ‘illegal’ US sanctions threat

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly condemned the “illegal and inhumane” threat of economic sanctions by the US on the country.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said US President Trump’s latest bluster “coincided with the anniversary of the shameful coup of 19 August 1953,” which removed Iran‘s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.

“This action is not only another sign of the continuation of 73 years of American policymakers’ animosity and hostility towards the Iranian people, but also proves the inhuman, lawless, and arrogant nature of the US ruling class”, it said.

New US sanctions, “while being considered a clear admission of committing crimes against humanity, is a continuation of a policy that has already been tried and failed”.

US sanctions on Iran will be ‘toughest’ in history, Bessent warns

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned Iran to expect the “toughest sanctions in history” and that the US is going to “collapse this regime”.

He said Iranians will face coordinated economic isolation, which will curtail Iran’s ability to take action through proxies and that if other countries “insist on doing business with Tehran” the US will enforce actions against them.

Speaking to CNBC, he added that “maximum economic pressure means likely not a kinetic restart”, meaning the US is unlikely to restart military action against Iran.

Bessent said a media conference on Monday will reveal “exactly what we’re going to do” to Iran.

US sanctions unlikely to succeed due to Iran’s importance to its many trading partners, expert says

Tehran-based academic Mostafa Khoshcheshm says Trump’s approach to forcing other countries to step back from doing business with Iran would be difficult given its extensive regional trade links with multiple bordering neighbors.

“Unless you convince all the other neighbors – Iraq, Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan — to place a blockade on Iran … this would be impossible because they are not working with the United States,” he said.

Khoshcheshm, a professor at Iran’s University of Applied Sciences and Technology, also argued that Iran’s neighbors have strong economic incentives to maintain trade with Tehran and would face significant risks if they joined a US-led economic blockade.

“Iran is vital to their economies, and [they] are also aware of the repercussions,” he said. “They know that Iran could escalate tensions easily with any country that cooperates with the US.”

“This kind of strategy could work with regard to Venezuela or Cuba, but it doesn’t work with Iran and it shows how helpless the United States feels,” he added.

US tells China to ‘get with the program’ on proposed Iran sanctions

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told China “to get with the program” over proposed sanctions on Iran in an interview on US-based business network CNBC.

When asked if the United States could target China for doing business with Iran, ⁠Bessent said many conversations were best to have ⁠in private, but the US is “confident that everyone wants the Strait [of Hormuz] reopened, and for energy prices to come back down,” he said.

“Keep in mind that the ⁠Chinese get 50 percent [of their] energy from inside the Gulf. So it would do them ⁠a big service to get with the program,” he said.

Former US negotiator: ‘Sanctions on Iran born of frustration’, risk worsening regional tensions

The latest round of economic sanctions on Iran seems to be borne out of frustration as the tree of sanctions has already been plucked, according to former senior US diplomat Alan Eyre. “The only tool left in the toolkit is this ongoing naval blockade of Iranian ports and this call for multilateral sanctions,” he said.

Eyre was part of the US negotiating team for the 2015 nuclear deal and says his understanding of the Iranian leadership is that when it’s facing existential threats, it is less likely to compromise, as it views that as a sign of weakness that might lead to more pressure on the country.

“What’s more likely to happen is not Iranian leadership capitulation, but counter-escalation by the Iranian military leadership to try to stop the naval blockade,” Eyre explained. “And that means targeting Gulf country energy infrastructure and possibly other targets.”

The UAE announced it will limit its trade and financial ties to Iran as well. Eyre says it’s unlikely “the UAE is going to burn all their bridges” as Gulf states run the risk of renewed attacks and need to find a way for a relationship that can last once the war is over.

US ‘begging’ allies for help after defeat: Iran deputy FM

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, has said the US has been “begging” its allies for help.

“They claim Iran is on the verge of defeat, hanging by a thread, yet they are begging all their allies to help them!” he posted on X after Trump threatened “economic D-Day” on any countries that help or do business with Iran.

Gharibabadi accused the US of failing after figures showed the US public debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time.

“The military war didn’t yield results, so now they’ve named the next failure “economic war”, he added.

China and Russia could hobble Trump’s plans to isolate Iran

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to financially punish any country providing an economic “lifeline” to Iran, as he declared an “economic D-Day” against Tehran.

The threat, six months into the US’s costly conflict with Iran, is Trump’s latest attempt to wield US economic power to achieve his foreign policy objectives, after a series of damaging trade wars earlier in his second term in office.

But Trump’s leverage over China and Russia, two important trade partners with Iran, is limited, analysts say. Russia is already under sweeping US sanctions and operates largely outside the US-led economic framework. China, meanwhile, has repeatedly shown it is willing to ignore US sanctions when doing so serves its own economic interests.

US Senator Schumer slams Trump’s misplaced priorities

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has criticised President Trump’s focus on “another endless war in the Middle East” instead of efforts to contain rising fuel prices and the ever-increasing national debt, in a post on X.

“Gas above $4/gal. National debt at $40 trillion. Another endless war in the Middle East”, Schumer wrote.

“And this is what Donald Trump is focused on.”

Former US diplomat warns Trump’s Iran strategy faces steep challenges, predicts sanctions may fail

Alan Eyre, a former senior US diplomat who served on Washington’s negotiating team for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, said that President Donald Trump is stuck in an impossible situation over the standoff with Iran, warning his administration’s strategy is unlikely to succeed.

“It’s going to take a long time for the [economic sanctions] to work, even if it does work,” said Eyre, now a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC.

He said building an effective multilateral sanctions regime took “months, and months, and months” of sustained diplomacy during the first Trump administration, for only limited success, adding: “The State Department right now is broken … I don’t think this administration has the time or the energy to whip up an effective multilateral sanctions regime that they’re saying they’re going to bring about.”

Eyre warned that even if sanctions begin to take effect, “Iran has a vote in this process, and they will escalate against possibly Gulf energy targets to get the US to lift the sanctions and lift the blockade”.

He said he does not believe sustained pressure on Iran, which has faced US economic sanctions for decades, would be effective.

New US sanctions aim to counter Iran’s Hezbollah ties, US official says

The new wave of US sanctions aims to stop Iran’s “use” of Hezbollah to “sow chaos across the Middle East and undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty”, Massad Boulos, senior adviser to the US president for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, wrote on X.

Boulos added that re-designating Hezbollah and sanctioning individuals connected to “the IRGC-Qods Force and Hezbollah shows our resolve to cut off these terror financing networks”.

Trump’s social media posts ‘unite the Iranian people’

Abbas Khamayar, a former Iranian diplomat and professor of international relations in Tehran, said reports of widespread petrol shortages in Iran are overstated, telling that petrol lines in the capital have not exceeded half an hour and represent a recent development.

“Iranian per-capita fuel and petrol consumption is five times the global average” as a result of low prices and broad availability, Khamayar said.

Turning to the domestic political climate, Khamayar pointed to huge public turnouts, including the funeral procession for former Supreme Leader Khamenei, as evidence that “Iranian society unites when it faces external challenges and foreign attacks”.

Public statements from Washington have produced the opposite of their intended effect, he argued.

“Trump’s statements and social media posts unite the Iranian people rather than create the rift he hopes to achieve through intimidation and psychological warfare,” Khamayar said.

He further argued that superior US military capability has failed to translate into strategic success, pointing to Washington’s shifting objectives as evidence of an incoherent strategy.

“American prestige has fallen in the eyes of peoples, and of the world,” Khamayar said.

Iranian patience running out over US naval blockade

Iranian patience with the tightening US naval blockade may be running out, according to Abbas Khamayar, a former Iranian diplomat and professor of international relations in Tehran.

Khamayar said that recent military leadership appointments and closed-door meetings indicate that “something is being cooked up in the kitchens of the decision-makers – a surprise,” adding that the topic has been widely discussed among Iranians in recent days.

“I don’t imagine the Iranians here will remain patient much longer,” Khamayar said, warning that a continuation of the naval blockade or the ongoing “no war, no peace” standoff could trigger “major confrontations”.

Should Washington fail to recommit to existing understandings on the memorandum of understanding with Tehran, any resulting escalation would not remain confined to Iran and the United States, he argued.

“There will be major confrontations” that could open additional fronts and draw in other regions, with effects ultimately reaching “a regional and global level”, Khamayar said.

Are Hormuz ships more willing to defy Iran or the US?

US President Donald Trump has insisted that his military remains in control of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and suggested this past week that the US might even seek to take charge of the territory.

On Tuesday, he also claimed that the strait was open for vessels to pass through, despite Iranian insistence that the waterway was closed for all ships that don’t seek Tehran’s approval before seeking transit, and even though the US itself has a naval blockade in place targeting all Iran-linked ships.

So who really is in control of the Hormuz strait at the moment?

Just follow marine traffic data and the prices on the oil markets.

Both sides are claiming that they have whatever number of vessels redirected. Buy collected maritime traffic recordings rarely show vessels redirected.

Hormuz shipping stalls as US-Iran deadlock persists, data shows

Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz did not increase on Wednesday, preliminary shipping data showed on Thursday, as the deadlock in discussions between the US and Iran to end the war persists.

Nine commodity vessels transited the strait on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data reported by Reuters.

Former CIA officer disputes reports US running low on munitions

Former Senior CIA Officer Scott Uehlinger says Washington is not opting to inflict economic pain on Iran because of a lack of military options.

“Certainly, many munitions have been used, but it’s not that the US is running out of weapons,” Uehlinger said. He pointed out that the US has allocated about 50 percent of its weapons for specific contingencies, such as a potential conflict with China, and does not want to tap into those reserves.

“Perhaps the munitions to be used in the Middle East are running low,” he added, clarifying that this does not mean the US is depleting its overall stockpile.

Uehlinger said Trump, “being a businessman, sees the advantages to an economic blockade, and so that has resulted in a change in strategy”.

IRGC says it will use more destructive weapons in next war

Iran is still producing weapons and will use more destructive ones if another round of conflict breaks out, IRGC spokesperson Sardar Mohebbi has said, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.

“The destructive power of the warheads used in IRGC missiles far exceeds those used in previous wars, and if a war breaks out, our weapons will be completely different from the past in all aspects,” Mohebbi was quoted as saying.

The spokesperson added that the changes include next-generation warheads with greater precision and missile range.

Oil flows nearly tripled before US-Iran MoU expired

Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz nearly tripled while the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran was in effect, though it remained far below pre-war levels, according to ship tracking data.

Some 374 million barrels of oil exited the Gulf during the 60-day window covered by the since-expired MoU, equaling about 6.1 million barrels per day, trade intelligence firm Kpler said in a briefing published on Wednesday.

Oman says lasting security in Strait of Hormuz requires regional peace

Oman said lasting security in ⁠the Strait of ⁠Hormuz requires permanent peace in the ‌region and rejected further escalation or conflict, its foreign minister told ⁠his Japanese counterpart ⁠on Thursday.

Iran has said ⁠a deal ⁠with ⁠Oman on new shipping lanes through the ‌strait was in its ‌final ‌stages.

We are coordinating with Qatar to reduce escalation in the region: Egypt FM

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty says there is “daily coordination between Egypt and Qatar … to reduce escalation and enhance diplomacy in the region”.

He addressed a news conference with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, in el-Alamein, Egypt.

Some of the statements Abdelatty made:

• He emphasized the need to adhere to international law in maritime navigation.
• He condemned and denounced the Iranian attacks on Qatar and the Gulf states, calling them a blatant violation of the states’ sovereignty.
• The security of Qatar and the sisterly Gulf states is an integral part of Egyptian national security and Arab regional security.
• Egypt agrees with the Qatari side that the security and governance of the Red Sea are a shared responsibility of the neighboring states.

Qatar foreign minister calls for halt to ‘blackmail’ in Strait of Hormuz

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said traffic in the Strait of Hormuz must go back to what it was before the US-Israeli war on Iran, with no party to the conflict “blackmailing” the other.

“The consequences of this war were grave, not only on the Gulf region but elsewhere in the world,” Sheikh Mohammed told reporters at a news conference following high-level discussions in El Alamein, Egypt.

“We need the situation to go back to what it used to be before,” he said. “We condemn any threats in this regard in any obstacles.”

Tajikistan seeks to import 2.5 million tons of fuel from Iran

Tajikistan has asked to import 2.5 million tons of oil and petroleum products from Iran, its Transport Ministry says.

A statement posted on the ministry’s website said Tajikistan had requested 2.55 million tons of fuel, including 2 million tons of crude, 150,000 tons of petrol, 300,000 tons of diesel and 100,000 tons of jet fuel from Iran.

In July, Tajikistan’s energy minister said authorities were negotiating with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq and Belarus regarding additional supplies of petroleum products.

The Central Asian country typically gets 80 percent of its petroleum supply from Russia, which has been dealing with fuel shortages itself amid its war with Ukraine and has recently imposed an export ban on fuel.

The announcement comes after Trump threatened countries against doing any trade with Iran. It’s still not clear how Trump’s “economic warfare” affects Tajikistan’s imports from Iran.

US military gives update on blockade of Iran

US Central Command (CENTCOM) says in a post on X that it has redirected 67 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two others bound to or from Iranian ports to enforce its renewed naval blockade.

The strait has faced a “dual blockade” dynamic since the outbreak of the war, where Iran has attempted to restrict traffic linked to US-allied nations, and US forces have responded with air strikes, naval escorts and port blockades to keep international energy corridors open.

The update comes as President Trump promised more “crushing” economic measures against Iran after the two countries failed to reach a deal.

CENTCOM says USS George Washington deployed to the Middle East

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed the USS George Washington is now deployed in the Middle East, after the lengthy deployment of US personnel onboard the USS Lincoln sparked crisis.

“The George Washington Carrier Strike Group is operating in Middle East during a scheduled deployment after arriving in the CENTCOM theater yesterday,” it said in a statement posted on X.

We knew that the carrier was meant to deploy to the Arabian Sea but it has to transit the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb to arrive in the Arabian Sea.

EU not concerned about gas supply amid Iran-US war, Commission says

The European Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova said today that there is no immediate concern about natural gas supply in the EU as storage in the bloc is at 62 percent of the capacity.

However, EU countries have been struggling to fill gas storage ahead of winter, as high gas prices since the war on Iran have deterred companies from buying fuel to store.

EU-wide gas storage was filled to 74 percent of capacity at the same time last year, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

Iran’s Araghchi discusses regional developments with Pakistani army chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has held a phone call with the Pakistani army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to discuss regional developments, the IRNA news agency has reported.

The news outlet said they discussed ways to advance diplomatic solutions to the ongoing conflict and to develop bilateral ties.

Pakistani mediated in the talks that resulted into the signing of June 17 Memorandum of Understanding that ended the war. But Washington and Tehran failed to negotiate a final deal before the expiry of the MoU on Monday.

US army (?) facilitated passage for 1,300 ships through Hormuz strait since May

US forces have facilitated the passage of 1,300 ships through the Strait of Hormuz since early May, a spokesman for the US Central Command says.

Iran’s defence ministry says its weapons have ‘stunned’ its enemies

Iran’s defence ministry said threats and attacks have resulted in progress within the defence industry which were “born from threats”.

Iran has “defeated and stunned a significant part of the enemy’s calculations and goals” with what was built and developed over the years.

“The war showed that whenever the enemy targets the will of the Iranian nation to defend itself, it will face a nation that not only stands firm in the field of defence and resistance, but also, relying on its own strength, creates new power for construction and progress from every threat,” the ministry statement added.

Turkish FM discusses Gaza, Syria and Hormuz with Saudi, Egyptian counterparts

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says he has discussed several regional issues with his Egyptian and Saudi counterparts.

Fidan spoke to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on the latest developments in Syria, the Gaza peace plan and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, he said in a post on X.

“As three brotherly countries that desire peace and prosperity in our region, we will continue to strengthen our cooperation and coordination in every field”, he said.

Qatari, Egyptian top diplomats to push for final deal to end US-Iran war

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has promised to continue coordination with Egypt “to push for a final and sustainable agreement on Iran that puts an end to the war and military escalation”, during a press conference with his Egyptian counterpart.

A statement by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said both diplomats agreed “the region was going through difficult circumstances since the beginning of the US-Iran war, which has produced very harmful repercussions for the entire region”.

Qatar’s top diplomat “stressed the necessity and importance of ensuring the freedom, security and safety of navigation, whether in the Strait of Hormuz or the Bab al-Mandab Strait”.

Al-Thani said there was a need for “international navigation not to be held hostage or used as a tool for political blackmail by any party, while condemning all those who obstruct this movement.”

Oman, Japan stress urgent need to open Strait of Hormuz

The Omani and Japanese foreign ministers have emphasised the need to intensify international efforts to ensure the freedom of maritime navigation in the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international law.

Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi met Motegi Toshimitsu in Muscat.

Oman’s FM affirmed that safe passage through the strait is inseparable from the security and prosperity of the wider region, according to a statement following the meeting.

Japan’s FM Toshimitsu said he appreciated Oman’s role in resolving the shipping crisis in the strait and promised to enhance coordination with Muscat to ensure free and safe navigation, both in Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb.

Qatar air defence chief meets Saudi counterpart in Riyadh

Qatar’s Air Defence Forces chief, Major General Muhammad al-Shahwani, has met Lieutenant General Mazid Al-Amro, the chief of Saudi Arabia’s Air Defence Forces in Riyadh, according to a post on X by the Saudi Ministry of Defence.

The military leaders discussed ways to develop cooperation and joint coordination.

Vance claims US forces helped move large volumes of oil and gas through Hormuz

Vance in the US-based pod cast The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show:

• We were able to transport large quantities of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz thanks to the tremendous efforts of our military and our employees in the commercial sector.
• Despite Iranian attacks on commercial vessels, we were able to secure the passage of large quantities of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz.
• We must secure the passage of more energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
• If we can transport sufficient quantities of oil and gas from Hormuz while simultaneously punishing the Iranians for targeting commercial vessels, this will put significant economic pressure on them.
• We are now in a new phase. We have eliminated Iran’s conventional military capabilities and exerted enormous pressure on their industrial base used in weapons manufacturing.
• This stage requires a delicate balance. While we exert economic pressure on them, they will try to exert similar pressure on us.