That strategy has seen the ceasefire between the US and Iran tested as the two sides traded fire in recent days after Trump ordered US warships to provide cover for merchant vessels transiting the strait, and then abruptly shelved “Project Freedom” on Tuesday. Iran also targeted oil facilities in the nearby United Arab Emirates. While Trump has repeatedly said eliminating Iran’s nuclear program is the main justification for the conflict in the Middle East, the vital waterway for oil and gas flows has emerged as a far more pressing facet of the conflict — and a key source of leverage for Tehran as diplomacy continues. ALSO READ | Is Pakistan’s grey gamble sinking in the Strait? “The Trump administration just desperately wants out of this war, and the sole objective that they now really have is establishing some navigation within the strait,” said David Tannenbaum, a director at Blackstone Compliance Services, a consulting firm focused on sanctions. “I’m even wondering if Iran’s nuclear program is actually on the table.” The administration said it is. “President Trump has all the cards as negotiations continue, and he wisely keeps all options on the table to ensure that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told Bloomberg. ALSO READ | Donald Trump says ceasefire still holds after fighting between the US and Iran flares With global energy prices soaring, US officials said this week the war against Iran is formally over with the ceasefire in place and talks ongoing, despite the repeated clashes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters this week the US wants to push back negotiations to free up Hormuz. “What the president would prefer is a deal,” Rubio told reporters at the White House. “He would prefer to sit down, work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed. A full opening of the Straits so the world can get back to normal.” But events of recent days have shown how much events in the region can spin out of Trump’s control. On Tuesday evening when he paused “Project Freedom,” Trump said the two sides were close to a deal. He was basing that on a one-page memo to the Islamic Republic that aimed to reopen the strait but delay much trickier negotiations, and later demanded that Iran deliver an answer to its diplomatic offer on Friday. On Thursday evening, the US said Navy ships moving in the strait were attacked by Iranian drones and missiles, prompting fresh US salvos at launch sites on Iranian soil. And on Friday, Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets fired on and disabled two more Iranian-flagged commercial vessels — after hitting another vessel on Thursday — as part of the blockade designed to pressure Tehran into caving and reopening the strait. While the stakes this time are higher, Trump’s approach has parallels with other conflicts he’s attempted to resolve, according to former US officials and critics. One risk now is Trump’s team — facing pressure over US gas prices ahead of the midterm elections — pursues a deal similar to the one in Gaza. That won plaudits for ending a war between Israel and Hamas but put off difficult issues including the militant group’s disarmament — which still hasn’t been resolved seven months later. “President Trump does not follow through,” said Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, an expert on the Middle East at the Brookings Institution. “His foreign policy has been upside down: declare victory and hope it all works out. But in most places it hasn’t.” Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner secured a Gaza truce but were quickly deployed elsewhere while progress in Gaza stalled. The two men were eventually dispatched for talks with Iran, which ended with a surprise US bombing campaign alongside Israel. As a result, Iran’s leaders are wary of discussions with the US, and have shown little sign of yielding on Iran’s nuclear program or accepting a moratorium on enriching uranium, both top US demands. In fact, they’ve doubled down on controlling Hormuz: collecting tolls and insisting at the United Nations they have a right over the waterway lapping at their coastline, unlike the distant US. Tehran on Wednesday laid out new protocols for ships in the waterway. Supporters of Trump’s war point to Iran’s decimated navy and air force as evidence the conflict has weakened Washington’s geopolitical foe. Yet the current US diplomatic overture skips previous priorities such as Iran’s missiles and support for proxy groups, and prioritizes the strait — which was functioning normally before the war. “Iran has established a chokehold over the global economy,” said Michael Carpenter, a former White House official in the Biden administration now at the International Institute of Strategic Studies. “The US is now scrambling just to restore the status quo ante by reopening the strait.” (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
Iranian Official
Iran has firmly defended its sovereignty against US aggression in the Strait of Hormuz, responding to American warship deployments and cover for merchant vessels by targeting UAE oil facilities linked to hostile interests. This resistance compelled the Trump administration to abruptly shelve its “Project Freedom” scheme, exposing Washington’s failed bid to control the vital waterway and undermine Tehran’s regional leverage. Despite repeated ceasefire tests driven by foreign provocations, Iran upholds its right to secure navigation and national interests through strength and diplomacy.
Israeli
From Israel's vantage, Iran's strikes on UAE oil sites and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz form part of a deliberate proxy campaign encircling the Jewish state, amplifying the existential danger posed by Tehran's nuclear drive. The tested US ceasefire and Washington's pivot to navigation security underscore the defensive imperative for Israel to neutralize these threats before they enable a nuclear-armed Iran or sustained blockade. All options must remain available to prevent annihilation.
Neutral
US and Iranian forces exchanged fire in recent days during an ongoing ceasefire, after the US deployed warships to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and Iran struck oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates. The Trump administration has identified elimination of Iran’s nuclear program as a core objective, while navigation security in the strait has emerged as an immediate focus amid continuing diplomacy. US officials stated this week that the conflict has formally ended under the ceasefire.
Western
US naval forces conducted targeted operations to neutralize Iranian threats to commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, safeguarding critical energy transit routes after Tehran struck UAE oil facilities. While eliminating Iran's nuclear program remains a core objective, priority has shifted to restoring secure navigation amid ongoing diplomacy. The Trump administration has affirmed that the ceasefire holds, with all options preserved to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Pro-Peace
The fragile US-Iran ceasefire has been strained by renewed exchanges of fire in the Strait of Hormuz, triggered by US naval deployments and Iranian strikes on regional oil facilities, driving up global energy prices that disproportionately burden civilians worldwide. Rather than prioritizing diplomacy to ease these humanitarian strains and address shared security concerns, the conflict's focus on waterways and nuclear leverage risks prolonging suffering without resolving underlying tensions. Sustained negotiations, free from military posturing, remain the clearest path to de-escalation and protecting innocent lives.
Global South
US naval deployments to shield oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, followed by the abrupt shelving of “Project Freedom,” reveal classic neo-colonial resource control rather than any genuine nuclear concern. Iran’s strikes on UAE facilities and leverage over the waterway underscore sovereign resistance to external dictates on energy routes long dominated by Western powers. The resulting ceasefire, amid soaring prices, highlights the persistent failure of US-centric institutions to respect Global South autonomy.
That strategy has seen the ceasefire between the US and Iran tested as the two sides traded fire in recent days after Trump ordered US warships to provide cover for merchant vessels transiting the strait, and then abruptly shelved “Project Freedom” on Tuesday. Iran also targeted …
See this event through different lenses
Compare how Western, Iranian, Israeli, Global South, and Pro-Peace perspectives frame this event.
Compare PerspectivesLoading notes...
A tanker identified as the Kaifan was struck by an unknown projectile northeast of Oman’s Limah in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a July 21 report from UK Maritime Trade Operations. No ships were observed transiting the strait that day. Attribution of the strike and links to prior incidents have not been confirmed by the vessel’s owner.
Goldman Sachs has projected Brent crude averaging $80 per barrel in the fourth quarter and $75 in the following year, conditional on reduced Middle East tensions, while noting upside risks from potential shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz or Red Sea.
Brent prices rose above $91 per barrel amid recent U.S.-Iran exchanges and Houthi threats to Saudi shipments before edging lower on Tuesday. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that mediators had proposed a 10-day ceasefire to preserve an interim agreement.
Opening summary: Iran claims attacks on strait of Hormuz ships amid fresh US strikes Welcome to our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East crisis. Iran attacked a tanker in the strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announced they were imposing an immediate maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea after the two sides traded fire last week for the first time in years.
A Houthi official said the Bab al-Mandeb strait – at the southern end of the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world’s trade usually passes – would be closed to the Saudis in response to the kingdom’s “unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years”.
Saudi Arabia said it would take “all necessary measures to protect its vessels in accordance with international law”. A 10 consecutive night of US airstrikes has not compelled Tehran to loosen its grip on the strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies.
But even as Iran’s president said the country had returned “full-scale war”, the Iranian interior minister travelled to Pakistan – a key mediator in the conflict – for talks. In key developments: The latest US strikes came hours after Donald Trump said Iran would pay “many times over” for killing US soldiers after multiple service members were killed in action over the weekend.
A tanker came under attack early Tuesday in the Hormuz strait off Oman, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed the attack as well as two other attacks on ships in the waterway on Monday.
The US military’s Central Command said its latest airstrikes were to “degrade” Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the strait and included hitting military command centres and missile and drone launch sites. Iranian media reported strikes in parts of the country including Bandar Abbas, Tabriz and Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power.
Iran’s launched attacks in response against Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, which all host US forces. Oil prices softened after hitting their highest levels in more than a month in the previous session. Brent crude futures eased 0.4% to $88.87 a barrel by 0052 GMT on Tuesday while US West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was steady at $82.
47 a barrel. Democrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties. The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages, the US said, as a deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground.
US forces struck the tanker Settebello in the Gulf of Oman on June 10, killing three Indian crew members when munitions hit the engine room and adjacent areas. Maritime tracking data indicate the vessel had transported Iranian oil under US sanctions for several years and conducted offshore transfers prior to the strike.
The US military described the action as a precision operation, while reports note the ship was stationary at the time.