As Strait of Hormuz transit drops, Trump again says US has ‘control’ | US-Israel war on Iran News

United States President Donald Trump has doubled down on claims the United States maintains “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz, even as transit through the arterial waterway fell to a one-week low amid the US-Israel war with Iran.

Trump made the statement in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, reiterating a similar claim he made to reporters the day before as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and fully re-open the strait have continued to stall.

“The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” Trump said.

He went on to claim the ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports “is being called, by everyone, “A WALL OF STEEL,” and there is nothing Iran can do about it”.

“Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer,” Trump said, ending his message with, “Praise be to Allah!”

Despite the statement, Iran has continued to assert its influence over the strait as it has pursued talks with Oman on future management. Wider peace talks with the US have been largely paused amid the Iran-Oman talks, which do not include Washington.

Iran has said it will not allow full traffic in the strait until the US naval blockade is lifted, sanctions are lifted, and its assets are unfrozen.

While ships can still transit through the strait, they face several obstacles and heightened threats. That has caused the volume of traffic to drop dramatically.

Reuters news agency reported that just eight ships transited through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, far below the 130 to 140 ships pre-war rate. That was down from the previous ten-day average of about 12 ships, according to trade analytics platform Kpler data.

The US and Israel launched the war with Iran on February 28. The US and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the conflict in June, but the agreement dissolved in mid July with both sides renewing attacks.

Fighting between the US and Israel has been mostly in recent days, with sporadic incidents. That included a US Navy military helicopter striking a Panama-flagged cargo vessel on Tuesday.

The Yemen-based Houthis have also opened a new front in the war, with attacks on vessels in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Six people were killed in a Houthi attack on an Egyptian-owned ship on Tuesday, in the first deaths from such an attack.

Stalled peace efforts

Speaking on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, said Islamabad was working to “bring the two parties to the negotiating table” and prevent efforts to undermine the peace process.

He added that Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and deputy foreign minister held talks with officials from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on August 10, and that Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is also visiting Tehran.

Despite the lack of progress, the Trump administration has continually signalled its desire for an off-ramp in the war, which remains politically unpopular in the US ahead of midterm elections in November.

Some analysts saw Trump’s latest statements as part of a concerted effort to frame the conflict as a victory, despite falling short of stated goals of ending Iran’s nuclear programme, ending its influence in the region and fomenting wider regime change.

“Unfortunately, the determination to demonstrate that the United States is ‘winning’ at all costs is creating a virtual reality that prevents both the administration and the president from making decisions based on the actual situation on the ground,” Dennis Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, wrote in a post on X.

“The United States does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Despite everything that has happened, Iran retains sufficient capabilities to disrupt maritime traffic through the strait,” he added.

Others have questioned US Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s statement on Tuesday that “the seven-day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz is currently up to almost 9 million barrels per day”. Wright said that, when combined with upgraded land delivery infrastructure, fossil fuel deliveries from the region were close to pre-war levels.

In a post on X, Brett Erickson, an analyst at Obsidian Risk Advisors, said there is “zero evidence that 9Mbpd is exiting the Strait of Hormuz per day”.

“Zero. Not ‘maybe’, not ‘potentially’,” he added.