The White House has insisted that Iran is in a weak position as the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz continues, with the United States maintaining a naval blockade and Iran tightening its grip by seizing two ships. President Donald Trump extended a fragile ceasefire to allow Tehran to come up with a unified proposal, but the blockade remains in place, prompting Iran to accuse the US of a flagrant breach of the truce.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the United States was “completely strangling their economy through this blockade”, with Iran losing 500 million dollars a day. She added that the country’s main oil export terminal was “completely full” and that Trump “will dictate the timetable”. “Iran is in a very weak position and the cards are in President Trump’s hands,” she said.
Military planners from a coalition of countries are due to meet in London as part of plans for a UK and France-led defensive mission to keep the waterway open after the conflict ends. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Britain wanted a “comprehensive settlement” and a “full reopening” of the key shipping route without restrictions or tolls.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, responded defiantly, saying the US would not achieve its goals through bullying. Large crowds turned out for a parade in Tehran, where banners proclaimed the strait was “indefinitely under Iran’s control” and “Trump could not do a damn thing”.
In a separate development, it was reported that a top US envoy has asked Fifa to replace Iran with Italy in the upcoming World Cup, in a move aimed at repairing relations between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
