Iran-US war latest: Tehran hits back at Trump’s claim of ‘complete control’ over Hormuz and says it will stay closed

Oil prices rose this morning as doubts about a US-Iran peace deal and attacks on two ships ‌fuelled concerns about Middle East supply disruptions, even as industry data showed US crude inventories expanded.

Brent futures gained 72 cents, or 0.81 per cent, to $89.63 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 71 ​cents, or 0.85 per cent, to $83.91.

Both benchmark contracts settled more than $1 higher on Tuesday, marking their ​highest closes since 31 July and extending gains after jumping about 5 per cent on ⁠Monday as hopes for a peace deal between the US and Iran began to fade.

Five European nations on the Security Council called a meeting as Britain’s new UN ambassador Sarah MacIntosh condemned escalating violence across the West Bank, calling settler attacks on Palestinian villages, some alongside Israeli soldiers, “appalling”.

Palestinian UN ambassador Riyad Mansour said Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory is already “underway – brutally and relentlessly”.

He urged international action to chart a path for Palestinian self-determination and “freedom.”

Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon responded by saying: “Israel condemns all violence against Israelis and Palestinians” and “does not tolerate extremism — we confront it”.

Danon said “extremist attacks” by Israelis are declining and accused council members of ignoring “rising” attacks by Palestinians.

US president Donald Trump has warned that Iran could be “blown away” after claiming that the US military was in complete control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Ohio on Tuesday, Trump said: “Iran is going fine, going just absolutely fine.”

“We totally ⁠control the Strait of Hormuz … Nobody else, only us,” he said.”At some point, maybe they’ll do something, and then they get blown away,” he said of Iran.

“But right now, we’re in a very good position. We have a country that has been the bully of the Middle East for 50 years, really 51 if you think about it … and they’re no longer the bully of the Middle East.”

At least six people were killed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Yemeni authorities said.

Yemen’s coast guard said the dead included four crew members and two members of the government-allied National Resistance Forces.

Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the Yemeni commercial vessel, according to Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

They are the first known deaths from Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen in the latest bout of fighting in the Arab country.

Netanyahu’s belated snub of the US-backed Gaza peace plan shows his dilemma ahead of ‘massacre’ election he faces in October – without the Israeli right he is finished, and without Trump’s backing he is toast, says Donald Macintyre

Donald Trump has said he just does what the Secret Service says to do, following reports that he went on a catering truck to a military jet instead of Air Force One while departing from the Nato summit last month amid a threat from Iran.

“I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane…I do what they say”, Trump told reporters.

“I guess there was a threat out there. I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats”, he added.

Iran was resolute on Tuesday that the United States must end the war before they release their grip on the Strait of Hormuz after Donald Trump said the military was in complete control of the channel.

Mohsen Rezaee, the new secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on social media that the “message is clear” that the strait will remain shut until the US agrees to terms and pulls back.

”The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the US ends the war and blockade, releases Iran’s frozen assets, and agrees to a region-wide ceasefire, including in Lebanon and Gaza,” he said.

“Until all conditions are met, the Strait will remain closed.”

It came after president Trump on Monday snubbed Iran’s six conditions for reopening the strait, which included “payment in full” for damage inflicted on Iran throughout the war.

“It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran,” Trump said, adding: “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.”

Donald Trump says the US Navy has cleared mines from the Strait of Hormuz and now has “100 per cent” control of the key waterway, which Iran says will remain closed until Washington meets its demands.

Trump told reporters: “It’s open now”. He also claimed the US was “the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now”.

It comes amid reports that the president hid in a catering truck to escape an Iranian assassination threat when he attended the Nato summit in Ankara last month.

Trump, meanwhile, has demanded war compensation from Iran in a shocking reversal of the six-point ultimatum presented to Washington as Tehran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s top security official said earlier this week that they would allow traffic to pass through the channel only once the US meets six terms, including “payment in full” for damage inflicted during the war.

But Trump snubbed the proposal in a Truth Social post, saying: “It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran,” Trump said, adding: “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.”

The price of gold has been on the rise once more, reversing a months-long downward trend which saw the precious metal’s value fall by more than a quarter.

Investors have had a tough time predicting what markets will do this year, with uncertainty from the Iran war hitting inflation, currency markets remaining volatile and and growing concerns over the amounts the largest firms are spending on artificial intelligence.

In such times, previously investors might have turned to gold, seen as a safe haven in troubled times – but instead, the precious metal appeared to mirror some of those other markets with a steep decline in the first half of 2026.