Trump reiterates America’s ‘complete control’ over Hormuz despite Tehran’s ‘clear message’ that strait will remain shutYour support helps us to tell the story
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Iran has suggested it could deliberately prolong the war with the US until Donald Trump leaves office, in order to send a message that attacking the country has lasting consequences.
Mohammad Reza Naghdi, senior adviser to the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said dragging out the war would show any future US administration that “there is a cost” to hostile endeavours against Iran.
“We have to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security,” he told PBS NewsHour.
His comments came as Iran again rejected Donald Trump’s claims that the US has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority said “the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked” and it will not be opened until Iran’s conditions are accepted.
Trump earlier said that “praise be to Allah”, Washington has “total control over the Strait of Hormuz”, adding: “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!”
Amid their conflicting claims, data from trade intelligence firm Kpler showed shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was near a three-month low.
Just 13 vessels transited the waterway on Tuesday, around 90 per cent below the pre-war daily average.
Iran says Strait of Hormuz is under its control, says Fars news
The head of Iran’s paramilitary Basij unit, Hossein Taeb, has said that the Strait of Hormuz is “under Iran’s control and management” on Thursday, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.
It comes a day after President Donald Trump declared “total control” of the vital shipping route.
Maira Butt13 August 2026 08:50
Iran says it could prolong war until Trump leaves office
A senior adviser to the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tehran could deliberately prolong the war until US President Donald Trump leaves office, in an effort to wear down its adversaries and deter future attacks.
Mohammad Reza Naghdi told PBS NewsHour that extending the conflict could impose a cost on any future US administration considering military action against Iran.
“We have to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security,” he said.
Naghdi also defended Iranian attacks on civilian vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, saying Tehran needed to control shipping routes during wartime.
He said vessels passing through areas controlled by Iran could be viewed as a threat if they were suspected of carrying supplies for the enemy.
“When we are at war, vessels need to pass through a region we can control,” he said. “When they leave an area that we control, it could be that they’re transporting supplies for the enemy.”
Asked whether attacking civilian ships violated international law, Naghdi said Iran had the right to control routes it considered threatening during a war.
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 08:21
US forces confirm continued blockade in Hormuz
US Central Command said its forces have redirected 59 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two as part of enforcement of its “steel wall blockade” against Iran.
The latest update comes as shipping traffic remains low through the Strait of Hormuz, with both sides continuing to make contradictory claims over control of the waterway.
Centcom said the figures were as of Wednesday as an F/A-18 fighter jet launched from the USS George HW Bush in regional waters.
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 08:00
UK economy grew by 0.4% in second quarter as Iran war prompts slowdown
Economic growth in the UK slowed between April and June, as the fallout from Donald Trump’s war on Iran put strain on global finances.
The UK economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the second quarter of the year, according to the Office for National Statistics, down from 0.6 per cent in the first quarter.
Its data showed growth of 0.3 per cent month-on-month in June, against expectations for a flat performance, as the ONS said firms across the service sector reported buoyant trade thanks to extreme hot weather and the start of the World Cup football tournament.
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 07:35
Desperate US sailors trying to jump overboard on extended Middle East deployment, families say
Desperate sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have tried to jump overboard during an extended deployment in the Middle East, their families say.
The aircraft carrier, crewed by around 5,000 sailors and Marines, has been deployed since November 21 but more lately has been supporting U.S. military operations in the war with Iran. The deployment had been expected to end in May but has been extended with no current return date, families told The Military Times.
Annabelle Loma, the wife of a sailor serving on the Abraham Lincoln, told the publication her husband is now on medical hold after trying to jump from the carrier.
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 07:30
ICJP calls on UK to sanction trade with Israeli settlements
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has written to Middle East minister Stephen Doughty calling on the UK government to impose targeted sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The group said Doughty’s recent condemnation of settlement expansion must be accompanied by “concrete measures”, arguing that sanctions are needed to bring the UK in line with its obligations under international law.
ICJP pointed to Israel’s approval of plans for 13 new settlements in the West Bank and more than £300m in funding announced for settlement construction as evidence of an accelerating expansion of the settlement enterprise.
Israeli soldiers (top) stand guard next to settlers in front of the Palestinian houses in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank (AFP/Getty)
The group also cited growing calls within the UK for action, including a June letter signed by 140 Labour MPs urging a ban on trade with Israeli settlements.
Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s public affairs and communications officer, said sanctions were “the bare minimum” required to uphold international law and urged Doughty to act without delay.
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 07:15
US gas prices hit their highest mark ever for mid August as Trump’s Iran war drags on
Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, reported in a post on X that gas prices have never gone above $4 per gallon after August 12 in any year.
On Wednesday morning, the average fuel price was just over $4 per gallon. The last time fuel cost nearly that much around mid-August was in 2022, when the national average gas price was $3.98 per gallon.
Graig Graziosi13 August 2026 07:01
X suspends Houthi spokesman’s account
X has suspended the account of Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The account, which had more than 121,000 followers, now displays a notice saying it was suspended for violating the platform’s rules.
Saree regularly used it to announce Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, as well as operations targeting Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 06:40
Iran says ‘no talk of an extension’ of 60 day ceasefire
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
The comments were a further blow to hopes of a swift resolution to the crisis, following attacks on shipping in the region on Tuesday that pushed oil prices higher.
“One of the issues that is being discussed via mediators is the US returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing the commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue,” the Iranian source said.
The Iranian source dismissed a report on Wednesday from Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that quoted Pakistani government sources as saying they had agreed to extend that 60-day period.
“There is no talk of an extension because, from Iran’s perspective, there is no period that began and therefore nothing to extend. The United States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later,” the source told Reuters.
Mourners pose for keepsake photos in front of the Iranian flag and the flag of Hezbollah in Lebanon near the Imam Reza Shrine (Getty)
Both Iran and the United States have stepped up rhetoric in the past two days.
Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the US accepted Iran’s conditions to end the war.
That followed a new demand from Trump on Monday that Iran should pay compensation for people killed in 50 years of wars, attacks and protests.
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 06:30
Trump defends secret flight swap after using Air Force One as decoy: ‘The plane I flew on was at greater risk’
Trump was sent into the sky out of Turkey in the second plane after a recent summit in Turkey because the Secret Service and military wanted him on a “different plane” due to a threat from Iran.
”I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”
Shweta Sharma13 August 2026 06:13