Iran-US war latest: Rubio dismisses UAE fears over Strait of Hormuz toll as ‘semantics’

We’ve heard from US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who during a trip to Bahrain has dismissed concerns raised by the UAE over an Iranian toll on the Strait of Hormuz as “semantics”.

“You can call it a toll, you can call it a fee, at the end of the day it’s all semantics,” Rubio said during a visit to Bahrain, where he is meeting the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

The UAE’s presidential adviser Anwar Gargash had previously warned that “geopolitical facts” cannot be imposed on Arab Gulf states as a result of “treacherous aggression against them”.

He said this would “sow seeds of discord and conflict for the future”, adding that this “is precisely what applies to the Strait of Hormuz”.

Washington has sought to reassure the region that no country, including Iran, will be allowed to charge tolls for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

As we earlier reported, Trump is said to have engaged in a shouting match with Republican senator Bill Cassidy during a behind-closed-doors meeting with several of the GOPs senior members.

The lunchtime exchange shows how the war has weighed on the president ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress.

Trump’s approval rating are at its lowest since he returned to office last year, with just one in four Americans believing the war was worth its costs, a poll by Reuters/Ipsos showed.

The exchange came a day after the Senate voted to direct Trump to end the war in a separate vote on a resolution passed by the House of Representatives this month. Cassidy was one of four Republicans to back it, along with opposition Democrats.

Trump did not mention the exchange with Cassidy, who was unseated by a Trump-backed challenger in a primary election this year. Later, he criticized the Senate.

“Iran sees that, they go, ‘What’s that all about?’. Now you know, it’s meaningless, right?” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Several hours later, the administration asked Congress for $70 billion to cover the cost of the war, adding to the U.S. military budget of $867 billion.

Donald Trump engaged in a shouting match with Republican senator Bill Cassidy during a behind-closed-doors meeting with several of the GOPs senior memners.

This is according to other Republicans in the room, who said Cassidy demanded the administration explain the framework deal Trump signed last week, that gives Iran financial incentives but falls short of the goals he laid out at the war’s beginning.

“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy afterwards told reporters. “It does not appear, although I don’t know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.”

Later, in what appeared to be an effort to please the president, the Senate’s Republican leaders scheduled a late-night vote to block a resolution calling for an end to hostilities with Iran.

The Senate voted by 50 to 47, largely along party lines, to block a war powers resolution that had advanced on a procedural vote in May.

“This vote puts Iran on notice,” Trump said on social media after Wednesday’s late-night vote, although it does not affect the earlier vote.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio is in Manama, Bahrain, where he is meeting with foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

He is later due to meet Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

It is nearly four months since the US and Israel launched war on Iran – a decision which had a dramatic and devastating impact stretching almost every corner of the world.

From skyrocketing oil prices, rising costs of global commodities, and deepening levels of food insecurity and poverty, normal people have been paying the price for a war involving the world’s most advanced military and the two most powerful forces in the Middle East.

But a war that many believed would be short-lived – with Donald Trump repeatedly vowing it would end “soon” with a total victory – dragged on for days, weeks, and then months, inflicting spectacular damage not only on global finances, but on the US military’s reputation as an unassailable force.

The global impact of the Iran war ranges from jet fuel prices, to the price of food, to increases in household bills.

At the centre of the global impact was Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint through which one fifth of the world’s oil supply flowed during peacetime.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude fell to $72.24 on Thursday, lower than the day the Iran war began on 28 February.

The oil prices began sliding since US and Iran began peace talks, in the hopes of achieving lasting agreement to end the conflict and unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

The vessel traffic transiting through the strait has also doubled in the last 24 hours, reaching its highest level since before the war, reported CNN citing MarineTraffic data.

An Israeli military official said ⁠on Thursday ​a ⁠soldier was ⁠killed ​in southern ⁠Lebanon ‌after a vehicle had overturned.The official described the incident as an accident.

Earlier, the military said a soldier ‌had died ​during “operational ‌activity”.

Five more South Korea-operated vessels exited the Strait of Hormuz, Seoul’s Oceans Ministry said on Thursday. One of the ⁠ships is ​bound ⁠for South Korea, the ⁠ministry said.

The ministry ​did ⁠not name ‌the vessels, citing requests from shippers and ‌crew members.

A total ‌of 13 South Korean ships remain ⁠in the strait, with 87 crew members on board, according to the ministry. South Korea is ‌in talks with ​relevant countries ‌to assist ⁠the remaining ships to ⁠safely exit the ‌area, ​it said.