Iran said Saturday it was re-closing the Strait of Hormuz, just three days after the critical shipping waterway had reopened under the framework agreement that paused the war between Tehran and Washington, D.C.
Tehran said the U.S. had failed to stop Israel’s continued strikes in Lebanon, violating the new memorandum of understanding the two countries signed earlier this week.
The announcement came moments after Vice President JD Vance publicly said the strait remained open. U.S. Central Command also posted on X earlier Saturday morning that 55 commercial ships had transited the waterway that day, moving “more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets.”
“U.S. forces remain present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect,” CENTCOM said.
Vance lands in Switzerland as Trump threatens ‘harder’ strikes
Vice President JD Vance, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani at the Lake Lucerne Summit on June 21, 2026, in Stansstad, Switzerland. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
(Pool via Getty Images)
Vance arrived in Switzerland on Sunday morning for in-person talks with Iranian negotiators, aiming to keep the framework agreement from unraveling. Hours before he landed, Trump escalated his rhetoric on Truth Social, writing that the U.S. would “hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” if Tehran did not rein in “their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham went further on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” telling Iran that the U.S. would take military control of the waterway if the deal collapses.
“If this deal fails, Trump is going to take the strait over by force,” Graham said. “The United States will control the strait. We will charge a fee for those who go through.”
Graham’s comments tracked a Trump post late Saturday floating U.S. tolls on the strait if no final deal is reached, casting Washington as the region’s “Guardian Angel.” Trump said there would be no tolls during the 60-day negotiating window, and none after — unless the deal fell through, in which case the U.S. would charge for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.”
Iran’s posture hardens
Even with the strait closing, working-level talks between the two countries went ahead Sunday in Switzerland, with Pakistani and Qatari mediators on hand. Vance joined special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Bürgenstock resort near Lucerne.
“The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together?” Vance said as the meeting got underway. “Can we turn over a new leaf?”
Iran’s posture, meanwhile, did not soften. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a Sunday address to a banking conference in Tehran, said Iran “does not fear war” and would “never back down” from its right to enrich uranium. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei warned that “the memorandum of understanding as a whole will be jeopardized” if Israel’s strikes in Lebanon continue.
A critical waterway, a fragile deal
The closure marks the first major test of the U.S.-Iran agreement Trump signed earlier this week, which paused more than three months of war.
The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil flows. Its closure for much of the war drove average gasoline prices in the U.S. above $5 a gallon and was one of the political pressures that pushed Trump to the negotiating table.
The framework agreement Trump signed earlier this week explicitly tied the strait’s reopening to the broader ceasefire — including a halt to fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Both sides have spent the past several days accusing each other of ceasefire violations.