Ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz on August 10, 2026 off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran. <\/p>\n
Ali Saeedi | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Iranian authorities have pushed back on U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that Washington has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday stateside, Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority said in a post on X<\/a> that “Claims and repeated posts by U.S. officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality: the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted.” <\/p>\n Trump had said in a Truth Social post earlier<\/a> that “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” <\/p>\n While both sides continue to make contradictory claims, data from trade intelligence firm Kpler showed that ship traffic through the Hormuz waterway is near a 3-month low.<\/p>\n Vessel transits sat at a 5-day average<\/a> of around 13 on Tuesday, nearly the lowest level since May 12, according to a CNBC analysis of data provided by the trade intelligence firm Kpler. This includes ships of all types, from cargo vessels to oil tankers.<\/p>\n Traffic is about 90% lower than the daily average of 130 ships that transited Hormuz before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n Both Washington and Tehran have hardened their negotiating stances, asking for “reparations<\/a>” from the other side, among other demands. <\/p>\n Iran’s Supreme National Security Council\u00a0laid out sweeping demands<\/a>\u00a0over the weekend for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the U.S. naval blockade, sanctions relief, American troop withdrawals and war reparations.<\/p>\n ‘Confusion and bewilderment’ <\/p>\n The developments come as Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a top advisor to the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told PBS in an interview<\/a> on Tuesday stateside that “victory is on our side” and that “we have also seen how the American military is weaker than what we perceived.”<\/p>\n He pointed to what he described as Washington’s shifting objectives over the course of the conflict, including wanting to invade Kharg Island and opening the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n “We saw confusion and bewilderment in America. It became a war without a strategy. Every two or three days, they announced a new objective … They mobilized their battleships. Everything they tried, we can show how we were victorious.”<\/p>\n When asked if the plan was to drag the conflict out until Trump leaves office, Naqdi said the goal was for Iran to “attain deterrence.”<\/p>\n As such, he said that one way was to prolong the conflict and cause attrition, so if anyone wants to attack Iran, there will be a cost. <\/p>\n \u2014 CNBC’s Spencer Kimball and Deena Zaidi contributed to this report.<\/p>\n