Iran-US War Live Updates: Trump Claims Control of Strait of Hormuz and Demands War Reparations

Donald Trump says the US Navy has cleared mines from the Strait of Hormuz and now has “100 per cent” control of the key waterway, which Iran says will remain closed until Washington meets its demands.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “It’s open now,” claiming the US was “the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now”.

Trump, meanwhile, demanded war compensation from Iran on Monday in a shocking reversal of the six-point ultimatum presented to Washington as Tehran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s top security official said earlier that they would allow traffic to pass through the key channel only once the US meets six terms, including “payment in full” for damage inflicted during the war.

But Trump snubbed the proposal in a message on Truth Social, saying: “It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran,” Trump said, adding: “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.”

Demand for the US Patriot air defence system has increased this year as Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has depleted supplies of interceptor missiles.

Ukraine is seeking further Patriot interceptors to defend itself against Russian ballistic missile attacks, while the Iran war has drained stores in the US and the Gulf.

Meanwhile, some European countries are hanging onto missiles that they may require for their own defence.

Lebanon's health ministry said on Tuesday that an Israeli drone strike in the city of Nabatieh wounded two civilians.

The ministry added that a second strike targeted a rescue team from the Al-Risala Association, damaging an ambulance.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to just six vessels on Monday, down from a 10-day average of about 11, as hopes for an immediate US-Iran peace deal faded.

Kpler data showed four vessels entered and two exited the strait. Before the war, around 130-140 ships typically passed through each day.

Traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait remained stable, with 25 vessels passing on Monday compared with a 10-day average of nearly 24.

US president Donald Trump was secretly transported away from last month’s Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, using a secondary military plane while an elaborate deception made it seem he was aboard Air Force One, according to a report published by The Washington Post on Monday.

The newspaper reported that the covert movement was triggered by an assassination threat from Iran targeting Mr Trump. Reporters and several White House personnel were left believing they were travelling on the same aircraft as the president as his return journey to Washington commenced following the annual gathering of Nato leaders.

The newspaper based its account on reviewed documentation, a US official aware of the operation and another individual familiar with the president’s travel arrangements.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has appointed six senior commanders to key military and security posts, reshaping the wartime leadership after several top commanders were killed.

The appointments came a day after former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezaee was named secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

British couple Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who have been jailed in Iran on widely criticised espionage charges, have ended hunger strikes lasting 93 and 84 days respectively.

The East Sussex couple, who deny the charges, were arrested in January last year while travelling by motorcycle from Europe to Australia and sentenced to 10 years in prison in February.

Craig Foreman’s sentence was later reportedly extended after he spoke to the media.

They began the hunger strike in May after prison authorities stopped them from contacting their families.

They agreed to end it after guards promised they could resume direct contact, though their family said Monday that contact had not yet been restored.

Oil prices rose as US-Iran negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz stalled. Brent climbed to $88 a barrel and US crude to $82.45, both their highest levels since 31 July, after a roughly 5 per cent jump on Monday.

The latest escalation came after Donald Trump rejected Iran’s terms for reopening the strait and instead demanded compensation from Tehran, raising fears that the crucial shipping route will remain disrupted.

He later wrote on Truth Social: “Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!”

US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has called Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran war a “complete and total failure”.

“Donald Trump got us into an illegal war, is losing his illegal war, and has no way out of his illegal war,” Schumer wrote on X.

“His lack of strategy, discipline, and any ability to seriously negotiate is endangering our troops and raising prices for everyday Americans,” he said.

“Trump’s leadership is a complete and total failure. We must end this war and begin to repair the damage he has wrought,” he added.

Donald Trump has said he will demand war reparations from Iran for the deaths and injuries of US soldiers and civilians over decades.

He made the demand after Iranian negotiators called for compensation for the destruction caused by the war, which has killed thousands and severely damaged Iran’s military and economy.

Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous, as led initially by Gen Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat.

“Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protesters that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.”