Hormuz Standoff Deepens as Iran Stays Defiant and Oil Climbs
The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz showed no sign of easing, with Iran remaining defiant over the closed waterway and refusing to commit to talks. President Trump suggested he might declare the strait “territory of the United States”, a remark the White House later played down as a joke, and told Americans to accept higher petrol prices. Oil rose again, capping its strongest week in months.
A week after the UAE accused Iran of a drone attack on two of its tankers, the confrontation over the waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes has settled into a tense stalemate, with no new strikes overnight but no path to de-escalation either. Iran, which dismissed Mr Trump’s rhetoric with the line that the strait “cannot be seized by a tweet”, is holding out for its demands to be met before reopening it, while Washington moves a fresh aircraft carrier into the region. The steady rise in oil prices — and Mr Trump’s blunt warning to motorists — underlines how the crisis is already reaching consumers worldwide. A grounded Russian tanker off Oman has added an environmental worry near the strait. Watch whether either side blinks or the standoff hardens further.