US Hits Iran With Fresh Sanctions as Hormuz Stays Shut
The United States imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran’s banking system and companies, its eighth such package this year, as the Strait of Hormuz remained closed and a deal to reopen it stayed unsigned. Iran said it was still awaiting its top council’s approval of the arrangement brokered with Oman, and was reported to be drafting a law to bar American and Israeli ships from the waterway altogether. President Trump again insisted a deal “could be inked soon”, a claim Iran’s parliament speaker dismissed as “show diplomacy”.
The fresh sanctions signalled that Washington is tightening the economic screws even as it talks of a breakthrough, deepening the mistrust between the two sides. Iran’s move to codify a ban on hostile shipping would harden the blockade of the world’s most important oil chokepoint into law, further from any reopening. The standoff has kept crude elevated near $83 a barrel and rattled markets for weeks, and it forms the backdrop to Friday’s mutual-defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. With neither side backing down, the “deal” Mr Trump keeps promising remains elusive. Watch whether Iran’s council signs off on the Oman arrangement or the blockade is written into law.