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Aug 12, 2026 (Bloomberg) –President Donald Trump claimed the US had "total control over the Hormuz Strait," as Washington and Tehran hardened their positions in deadlocked negotiations over the critical waterway.
"We own it," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington late Tuesday, an assertion Iran has dispelled via intermittent attacks on ships transiting the passage. "At some point, maybe they'll do something, and then they get blown away."
Trump has oscillated for months between threatening to resume attacks on Iran and expressing confidence that talks to bring an end to America's war with the Islamic Republic are progressing. His latest comments came after Pakistan's defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg in Islamabad that the two sides are "close to some sort of arrangement" over Hormuz, a key sticking point.
The escalating rhetoric raises further doubt that any immediate deal can be reached over the strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the US and Israel started attacking Iran on Feb. 28. While an interim peace deal was agreed in June, intermittent clashes and maritime traffic disruptions continue, with the terms of that accord now effectively obsolete.
Qatar and Pakistan have been mediating to reach an end to the conflict, which has claimed thousands of lives. On Wednesday, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi's office said he had delivered a message related to the ongoing situation in the region from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir to the Iranian leadership. Naqvi is assisting Munir, who is leading the negotiations.
Al Jazeera previously reported that talks between Iran and Oman about reopening Hormuz to some maritime shipping had reached an advanced stage, citing a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson. The US isn't directly party to those discussions, though has resumed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Mohsen Rezaee, the newly appointed secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said any agreement with Oman on control over the strait would remain separate from any full reopening, according to a report by state-run IRIB. What conditions Iran may seek to impose on traffic through the waterway remains unclear.
Iran conveyed additional demands to Washington through intermediaries, including that the US end the war and unfreeze blocked Iranian assets, IRIB cited Rezaee as saying on Tuesday. The comments followed a meeting with China's ambassador to Iran, Cong Peiwu, in Tehran.
"We are definitely at a stalemate," Wendy Sherman, former US deputy secretary of state, told Bloomberg TV. "Unless the US is ready to either allow Iran and perhaps Oman to have voluntary tolls or to give Iran so much relief from sanctions and frozen assets that it's worth their while, I don't think we'll get it open for any sustainable period of time."
"I think the reality is for the foreseeable future, if not forever, Iran will control the Strait of Hormuz," she added.
Oil prices continued to climb as traders remain uncertain of the prospects for a Middle East deal. Global benchmark Brent crude traded slightly higher at just over $89 per barrel in London on Wednesday, extending its rally into a sixth day.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a social media post Tuesday that the seven-day average for oil leaving Hormuz is almost 9 million barrels a day, a figure higher than many trader estimates.
A US Navy helicopter fired two missiles at a Panama-flagged cargo vessel attempting to transit the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, Central Command said in a post on X, adding that the vessel was sailing toward an Iranian port in violation of an American blockade.
Despite such attacks, so-called shuttle transits through the strait continue, keeping a key oil supply valve open. Satellite images showed vessels conducting cargo transfers outside of Hormuz, indicating that some tankers continue to cross the waterway with their transponders turned off.
Twelve such switches were seen along a stretch of water that spans more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the coasts of Oman and the United Arab Emirates on Monday, data from the European Union's Sentinel 2 satellite shows. Some ships have also re-emerged in tracking data, as well as the Kpler and Vortexa platforms, having crossed Hormuz in recent days.
Mohammad Reza Naqdi, an adviser to the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on Tuesday signaled that the Islamic Republic is shifting to a new offensive military strategy following the recent appointment of several senior officers.
"Whenever the conditions are favorable and the order is issued, we must be able to take the operation into enemy territory and also conduct operations away from our own land," he told state television. "The Revolutionary Guards have now been tasked with creating this readiness and capability within themselves so that they can carry out such an operation when the time is right."
Volatility in Middle East extends beyond the US-Iran conflict. Israel continues to clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and stage strikes against Hamas operatives in Gaza, while the Houthis have staged attacks on ships in the Red Sea, with the latest occurring on Tuesday.
