The US military insisted Sunday that ships are moving through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iran’s claim to have closed it in the latest flare-up of the Mideast war.

“Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing,” CENTCOM, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, said on X.

In a later post, CENTCOM directly mentioned and challenged an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps statement that the vital conduit for global oil flow was closing.

But the US military said the strait “remains an international waterway. US forces are positioned and prepared to keep it that way.”

As it announced the strait was closing, Iran also attacked US-allied Gulf neighbors in response to the latest series of US strikes on Iran, further endangering a deal that was supposed to halt the war while negotiators seek a definitive agreement to end it.



AFP

Prominent US Senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of President Donald Trump, died on Saturday aged 71 following a “brief and sudden illness,” his office said.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” the Republican senator from South Carolina’s office said in a statement on his official X account.

“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”

Graham was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994, before being elected to the Senate in 2002.

He was later re-elected to the Senate in 2008, 2014 and 2020 and most recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster described Graham as “irreplaceable” in a post on X.

“The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend,” McMaster said.

Graham was also a strong supporter of Israel and a hawkish backer of the Iran war.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the news of Graham’s death left him “shocked and heartbroken.”

“Senator Graham was a beacon of moral clarity and a true leader of the U.S.-Israel partnership,” he said in a post on X.

“We will never forget how he stood by the people of Israel in our most difficult moments, and we will remain eternally grateful for his sense of justice, truth, and loyalty,” Herzog said.

“The people of Israel mourn his loss, and I will miss my great friend very dearly.”



AFP

Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday vowed revenge for the US-Israeli killing of his father and predecessor, hours after President Donald Trump warned against any attempt to assassinate him.

Both sides dialled up the rhetoric after exchanges of fire this week rocked an interim agreement aimed at ending their war, which broke out in late February with massive US-Israeli strikes.

Trump has declared the ceasefire over, while mediators have been trying to salvage diplomacy, with Iranian media reporting that a delegation from Qatar travelled to Iran on Friday.

“Vengeance is the will of our nation and must inevitably be carried out,” Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written message.

He became Iran’s supreme leader after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in late February by US-Israeli strikes, but has not been in public since before the war.

“This matter depends neither on my personal existence nor on that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass,” he wrote in his first message since his father’s funeral this week.

He said Iran had compiled a list of individuals to be targeted.

Hours earlier, Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform that any attempt to assassinate him would lead the United States to “completely decimate” Iran.

“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!,” Trump wrote.

“Orders have already been given, and the US Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.”

With both nations stepping up their threats, mediators have been working to bring diplomacy back on track. Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that a Qatari delegation was visiting Iran to “try to reinforce Qatar’s role as a mediator”.

Trump has said talks with Iran will continue, but has labelled them “a waste of time”.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, insisted Tehran had stuck to its end of the bargain after the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding last month.

Tehran “has so far kept its word”, he said. “Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance.”


US and Iranian delegations have held one round of direct talks in Switzerland since the signing of their memorandum of understanding, as well as indirect negotiations in Qatar, but there has been no sign of diplomatic progress since.

A key roadblock to a final deal is the future of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed to commercial shipping during the war in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.

The waterway is a key conduit for oil and gas exports out of the energy-rich Gulf countries, and its closure has heavily impacted the world economy.

Iran insists on controlling the passage of ships and has announced plans to charge fees, saying there will be no return to the free navigation of the pre-war era, which Washington has rejected.


Under customary international law, states are not generally permitted to charge tolls on straits used for international navigation.

Araghchi on Saturday arrived in Oman, which sits on the other side of Hormuz, for talks on administering the strait.

News outlets Axios and Politico reported that Washington has given Tehran until Saturday to stop firing on commercial ships transiting Hormuz and acknowledge the waterway is open.

This week’s exchange of strikes was sparked after Iran was accused of targeting three vessels it said had deviated from its approved route.

The attacks prompted Washington to launch a heavy round of bombing in Iran, hitting around 90 targets across the country, according to the US military.

The US strikes killed 17 people, Tehran’s health ministry said Saturday, and injured 115 more. They also triggered a wave of reprisals by Iran against US-allied countries in the Gulf that host American military bases.