The fragile calm that briefly lifted over the Middle East has shattered. Iran has reimposed strict control over the Strait of Hormuz, reversing its decision to reopen the critical waterway just 24 hours earlier, and sending shockwaves through global energy markets ahead of Monday's open.
Tehran justified the move as retaliation for the continued US blockade of its ports © Mena Today
The fragile calm that briefly lifted over the Middle East has shattered. Iran has reimposed strict control over the Strait of Hormuz, reversing its decision to reopen the critical waterway just 24 hours earlier, and sending shockwaves through global energy markets ahead of Monday's open.
Tehran justified the move as retaliation for the continued US blockade of its ports, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards warning that any vessel attempting to transit the strait would be "considered as cooperating with the enemy and targeted."
At least three commercial ships came under fire shortly after the announcement. President Donald Trump hit back, calling Iran's maneuver "blackmail" and accusing Tehran of "playing games."
The Hormuz escalation comes just three days before the Iran-US ceasefire expires, and at a moment when peace talks appear deadlocked. Iran's powerful Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf reiterated Saturday that the two sides remain "far from closing the debate", citing deep mistrust and unresolved fundamental issues. Trump, meanwhile, claimed Iran had agreed to hand over enriched uranium, a claim Tehran flatly denied.
Egypt and Pakistan are working to bring both parties back to the negotiating table following the failed April 12 Islamabad round.
Hezbollah on Wednesday rejected accusations that it had dispatched experts to Yemen to fight alongside the Houthis in their war against the internationally recognised government and Saudi Arabia.
The US Democrats' "blue wave" of midterm election victories is already causing ripples across the rest of the world, where trade partners, strategic allies and enemies all see implications in the result.
Iran and the United States are still far from a deal to end their war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump declined to rule out a resumption of US combat operations after the elections in the United States.
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