ILLUSTRATION : THE AGREEMENT ON THE SERVUCE FEES IS REPORTEDLY DELAYING THE ANNOUNCEMNT OF THE DEAL . Iran’s IRGC which is now calling all the shots is reportedly insisting on charging a fee while Oman has so far resisted the ideal and wants any fees to be on voluntary basis like the Strait of Malacca,
HERE IS THE LATEST :
- Iran and Oman are close to agreeing on new arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, but not for a full reopening of the vital waterway, Iran’s state news agency reported Thursday.
- President Trump said “a lot of progress had been made” on the subject of reopening the strait and suggested an announcement could be made soon.
- The president is denying recent reports of significant U.S. munitions shortages due to the Iran war, and said he is “extremely happy” with the job being done by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Trump denies munitions shortage, but says there are some weapons “where it’s a little bit tighter”
President Trump again denied reports that the U.S. military is running low on munitions amid the war with Iran.
“We have certain types of munitions that are very powerful, yeah, that we have unlimited, virtual unlimited supply,” Mr. Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office. “We have others where it’s a little bit tighter, and we’re getting them in on a daily basis.”
“But we have certain types of munitions which are very, they may not be as accurate. They may not be, you know, they’re not as elite,” Mr. Trump said. “We have elite too, but we’re, we’re watching that very closely. But we have certain types which are very powerful, very good, and we have an unlimited supply, and so we’re in great shape.”
“But with that being said, we always want more,” he added. “We have to have more. We have other things … maybe come up, and maybe don’t come up. Hopefully, nothing else does come up. But we’re in very good shape. We have literally massive amounts of ammunition.”
Trump insists Strait of Hormuz “sort of open right now”
President Trump on Thursday told reporters he didn’t want to say that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz had been reached, but insisted it is “sort of open right now.”
“We control it, but they can always shoot something, they always have something, or drop a mine, and if you have one mine out there you sort of mess things up, because people don’t want to take their billion-dollar boats and accidentally get hit by a mine, but I think we’re doing very well,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office after signing several executive orders.
Mr. Trump also said he was involved in the ongoing negotiations with Iran, but did not specify how.
Transits through the strait remain extremely limited, as Iran demands that ships travel close to its coast and seek permission before sailing through it. Fewer than 10 ships per day traveled through the waterway from Sunday to Tuesday, according to analytics firm Kpler.
Iranian Parliament speaker mocks Trump’s propensity to promise attacks and then call them off
The speaker of Iran’s Parliament is mocking President Trump’s familiar routine of promising major strikes and then calling them off in favor of talks.
“‘Massive attack coming… wait, never mind, they want to negotiate.’ That’s theater diplomacy on loop,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.
He also accused the U.S. of “bullying [and] broken promises.”
“Acknowledge the facts and fulfill your commitments. We don’t need more theater,” he said.
Ghalibaf has been one of the main figures in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to broker a lasting peace. But he has also regularly taunted the U.S. and Mr. Trump on social media.
In late July, the speaker posted a meme of a cyclist jamming his own front wheel along with the comment, “They wanted to punish Iran. Punished themselves with triple-digit oil instead.”
49 ships redirected in Strait of Hormuz by U.S. military blockade
The U.S. military blockade redirected one more vessel in the Strait of Hormuz in the last day, bringing the total number to 49 since it was reinstated in mid-July, according to U.S. Central Command.
The blockade is redirecting all vessels entering or exiting Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
Few ships are transiting the strait currently. Only eight ships crossed on Tuesday, according to Kpler, a maritime tracking firm, and just 29 have crossed so far this week.
Israel, Lebanon talks wrap up in Rome after 3 days
The final day of talks in Rome between Lebanon and Israel wrapped up on Thursday afternoon. The talks over the last three days were moderated by the U.S., which called them “productive.”
“The talks are over and were productive on the technical and expert levels,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement. “The two sides are a lot closer on what needs to be done to advance and expand the pilot zone process.”
Despite the positive tone, the talks ended early on Wednesday after an escalation in strikes in southern Lebanon.
The “pilot zone” process refers to a clause in the trilateral agreementbetween Lebanon, Israel and the U.S., signed in late June. The Israeli army was set to exit multiple areas in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah operates, and security would then be taken over by Lebanese forces.
Israel, which launched more strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday in response to Hezbollah allegedly killing two soldiers, has said it will only exit the region if the Iran-backed militant group disarms.
Iran-backed Houthis kill dozens of government forces in major attack
Houthi missile and drone attacks in Yemen on Thursday killed at least 38 government troops and injured 29, two medical sources told AFP, in one of the deadliest days between the two sides in years.
A military official told AFP that a military camp in the al-Ruwaik area of Marib province, in central Yemen, had been attacked, as well as camps in the Al-Abr and Al-Wadiah areas of Hadramawt, near the border with Saudi Arabia.
One of the missile attacks hit troops during their morning formation at the camp in Marib province, “killing and wounding at least 45 personnel,” said another military source, who declined to be named for security reasons.
Yemen, which has been embroiled in more than a decade of war, last month became the latest front to be sucked into the U.S.-Iran war, as the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels upended a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government.
The Iran-backed Houthis have recently targeted energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and fired at Saudi-flagged vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as part of a blockade in solidarity with Iran.
CBS
