Iran-US war latest: Tehran drafting conditions for Hormuz as US deploys additional carrier

Tehran is drafting a list of conditions to open the Strait of Hormuz after mediators asked the country to set them out, Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei said. The Supreme National Security Council secretary also warned that Tehran would retaliate against US economic interests if President Donald Trump continued with the blockade of Iranian ports.

His statement comes as the US is preparing to send another aircraft carrier to the Middle East after Trump vowed to continue the war with Iran “for as long as necessary” and without a timetable to resume peace talks. Senior US Navy officials told CNN that the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier would be deployed for at least seven months. It is expected to relieve the George Washington, USNI reported.

News of the deployment emerged as Trump told Al Jazeera that the US is "achieving a very big victory" over Iran on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the conflict. The US president was insistent that he was “not in a hurry” to get back to peace talks with Tehran and has “no time line” to work to.

Iranian acting defence minister Majid Ibn al-Reza has said that Tehran has "changed the regional power equations" in the Gulf and demonstrated that the era of “hit-and-run” attacks on the country was over. Ibn al-Reza reportedly said a “ridiculous media show does not change the reality on the ground and the victorious side”.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said putting diplomacy back on track was not impossible but hinged on the US understanding that pressure does not work. In a post on X, Araqchi said he had held what he described as "creative discussions" with Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, adding that Washington should build trust, speak respectfully, acknowledge Iran’s rights and uphold its commitments.

Six months after the airstrikes that began the war and propelled a badly wounded Mojtaba Khamenei into the role of Iran's supreme leader, he remains entirely unseen and unheard by Iranians. Questions over his condition and role are growing increasingly fraught, with Iran facing critical decisions over a war that has set the Middle East aflame while trashing the country's already fragile economy. Iranian officials and other senior sources in the country say Khamenei remains in control, ruling from the shadows for security reasons as he recovers from disfiguring wounds while delegating broad daily authority to a coterie of top figures.

But with no photograph, video or audio message released since his appointment a week into the war, Iranians are ever more sceptical about his position in an Islamic Republic in which the leader's voice is meant to be absolute. "The question is no longer whether Mojtaba is alive, but whether Iran still has a functioning supreme leader," said Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute in Washington.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed that Donald Trump “continues to retain all options on the table” for the Iran war. “We’ve had Operation Epic Fury to destroy their military. Now we have Operation Economic Outcast to destroy their economy,” she told Fox News. “No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way,” she added.

US military commanders have claimed that American forces have cleared sea mines from the Strait of Hormuz that had been laid months ago by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "Bottom line: today, international shipping lanes are open and momentum is building," said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US military's Central Command. He claimed that US forces have in recent months helped 1,500 commercial vessels carrying nearly 750 million barrels of crude oil to transit the strait.

Oil prices fell this morning and are on track to snap a two-week winning streak, despite settling higher in the previous session following a report that president Donald Trump is not interested in returning to previous deal terms with Iran. Brent crude futures were down 25 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $89.45 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 22 cents, also 0.3 per cent, to $83.31.

The U.S. military is reportedly experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe, largely driven by president Donald Trump’s war with Iran. Citing a US defence official in Europe and a Nato official, The Associated Press reported that the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in Nato countries to a potential Russian attack. The Nato official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles, among American and Nato forces in Europe.

Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei said a report about a potential plot to assassinate US president Donald Trump's youngest son is a lie. The U.S. Secret Service said on Tuesday that it was aware of a video broadcast by Iranian state television discussing a potential plot to assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son Barron Trump.