US President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US has no talks planned with Iran but insisted the Strait of Hormuz remains “open and operating,” despite limited traffic and a reported strike on a ship exiting the waterway.
Earlier this week, Trump also threatened to bomb Oman as the country sought a deal with Iran to manage shipping traffic through the strait, two regional officials said Tuesday, a day after Trump reportedly leveled the threat if Oman «gets in the way.” Iran says the waterway will not be reopened until the US meets its conditions.
As talks between Iran and Oman continue, a projectile hit a ship in the strait and Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed they fired drones at an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia.
As Oman and Iran say they are nearing a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on social media Tuesday that the US blockade of Iranian ports remains “in full force and effect,” but asserted that all water mines have been removed and that other marine traffic was free to pass.
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Trump posted a map depicting the strait as US territory.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi appeared to respond to Trump’s post.
“Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man,» he wrote on X.
The Trump administration has told Oman it opposes parts of the yet-to-be-announced deal, according to officials briefed on the US position. Those include joint Iranian and Omani management of the passage’s exit route and the collection of voluntary fees from vessels, even if the money is used for security and maritime environmental protection.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to journalists.
The White House on Tuesday referred to Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office and declined to comment further about Oman.
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The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Iranian-Omani deal could pave the way for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations for a “comprehensive and permanent deal that addresses all concerns and enhances regional security and stability.”
The statement came after a meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Omani counterpart Badr al-Busaidi. But it did not address Trump’s latest threat against Oman.
The 60-day negotiating period ended this week between the US and Iran with no clear end to the war in sight.
Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped significantly last week, with confirmed crossings falling 19.5% to 95 transits. Only three vessels made it through the waterway on Sunday, according to shipping data platform Kpler.
The ships used the Iranian-designated route through the strait, with no crossings recorded through the Omani routes.
Crossings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait increased 6.7% to 254 transits, while so-called dark transits, in which ships turn off the transponders that broadcast their location, fell from 40 to 16, Kpler said.
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An unidentified projectile damaged the engine room of a ship in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman and “resulted in a crew casualty,» according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center.
The maritime monitoring agency did not release any details about the ship or its cargo, and it was not clear whether the crew member was killed or wounded.
No environmental damage has been reported and the agency said the Omani Coast Guard was assisting other crew members and authorities were investigating.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed they fired drones at an oil refinery in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the latest attack threatening to reignite Yemen’s civil war and open another front in the Middle East.
The attack targeted a facility run by Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, according to a report by the Houthi-run SABA news agency. There were no immediate reports of damage or comment from Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have escalated attacks against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea, an important alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
An Israeli strike hit Gaza City on Tuesday, killing six people, including a child, and wounding 14 others, according to Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
The Israeli military said it struck Hamas commanders in the Shati area who it said were planning to carry out attacks against Israeli forces.
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The heaviest fighting has subsided since a ceasefire in the more than two-year war took hold in October. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes since then, killing at least 1,266 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
The defense ministry of the United Arab Emirates said two ballistic missiles were launched from Iran toward the UAE on Tuesday.
One landed outside of the country’s waters, and the other landed within them, the Emirati Defense Ministry said. It was unclear whether the missiles were shot down by air defenses or fell. No damage or injuries were reported. There was no immediate statement from Iran.
In the weeks after the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, the UAE was frequently targeted by Iranian missiles and drones, but Tuesday’s reported attack was the first in weeks.
Iran early Wednesday rejected the UAE’s claims that it launched missiles toward the country.
In a post on social media, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said Dubai’s accusations were “detrimental to ongoing efforts to strengthen trust among the countries of the region and prevent a further deterioration of security.” He called on the nations in the region to not make “ baseless accusations” against Iran.
Earlier, the UAE defense ministry said Iran launched two ballistic missiles targeting maritime traffic and fell into the sea.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
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