The military and political standoff between the United States and Iran intensified on Tuesday, driving up global oil prices as efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz hit new friction.
President Donald Trump asserted Monday that the U.S. Navy maintains control over the strategic waterway, while raising new demands in response to Tehran’s conditions for peace.
Rebutting Iran’s call for war damage reparations, Trump said on Truth Social that he has instructed American negotiators to demand compensation from Iran for U.S. victims of roadside bombs, past military conflicts, and killed Iranian protesters.
“I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” Trump stated, specifically citing the 17 sailors killed in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
The hardening positions spooked energy markets, sending crude oil prices up another 2% on Tuesday following a 5% jump on Monday. Brent crude hovered near $90 a barrel as traders grew doubtful that commercial vessels will be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the immediate future.
Despite the tense public exchanges, diplomatic efforts remain active behind the scenes. Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg in Islamabad on Tuesday that the U.S. and Iran are nearing “some sort of an arrangement.” Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi also arrived in Tehran for talks, joining ongoing mediation efforts alongside Oman and Qatar.
Meanwhile, security risks across regional trade routes continued to escalate. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported Tuesday that a cargo ship was hit by an unknown projectile in the southern Red Sea near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, causing crew casualties. Security firm Marisks reported that three crew members—two Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian—were killed aboard a Saudi-owned commercial vessel in the same area.
In Yemen, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels launched missile and drone strikes against the government-controlled port city of Mokha and the central province of Marib. The renewed attacks threaten to restart the country’s civil war and further disrupt maritime transit through the Red Sea, an alternate route for Persian Gulf crude.
In southern Lebanon, health officials reported that an Israeli air strike in the city of Nabatieh wounded two people and damaged a rescue ambulance, prompting public condemnation from the Lebanese health ministry. Intermittent strikes have continued despite framework agreements reached earlier this summer.
Details also emerged Tuesday regarding security threats directly targeting the U.S. presidency. A U.S. official confirmed that Trump was secretly moved to an alternate aircraft using a catering truck prior to leaving Turkey after last month’s NATO summit, following intelligence reports of a credible missile plot against Air Force One.
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