Iran war latest: Trump claims control of Hormuz as assassination threat revealed

Five European nations on the Security Council called a meeting as Britain’s new UN ambassador Sarah MacIntosh condemned escalating violence across the West Bank, calling settler attacks on Palestinian villages, some alongside Israeli soldiers, “appalling”.

Palestinian UN ambassador Riyad Mansour said Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory is already “underway – brutally and relentlessly”.

He urged international action to chart a path for Palestinian self-determination and “freedom.”

Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon responded by saying: “Israel condemns all violence against Israelis and Palestinians” and “does not tolerate extremism — we confront it”.

Danon said “extremist attacks” by Israelis are declining and accused council members of ignoring “rising” attacks by Palestinians.

US president Donald Trump has warned that Iran could be “blown away” after claiming that the US military was in complete control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Ohio on Tuesday, Trump said: “Iran is going fine, going just absolutely fine.”

“We totally ⁠control the Strait of Hormuz … Nobody else, only us,” he said.”At some point, maybe they’ll do something, and then they get blown away,” he said of Iran.

“But right now, we’re in a very good position. We have a country that has been the bully of the Middle East for 50 years, really 51 if you think about it … and they’re no longer the bully of the Middle East.”

At least six people were killed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Yemeni authorities said.

Yemen’s coast guard said the dead included four crew members and two members of the government-allied National Resistance Forces.

Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the Yemeni commercial vessel, according to Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

They are the first known deaths from Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen in the latest bout of fighting in the Arab country.

Netanyahu’s belated snub of the US-backed Gaza peace plan shows his dilemma ahead of ‘massacre’ election he faces in October – without the Israeli right he is finished, and without Trump’s backing he is toast, says Donald Macintyre

Donald Trump has said he just does what the Secret Service says to do, following reports that he went on a catering truck to a military jet instead of Air Force One while departing from the Nato summit last month amid a threat from Iran.

“I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane…I do what they say”, Trump told reporters.

“I guess there was a threat out there. I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats”, he added.

Iran was resolute on Tuesday that the United States must end the war before they release their grip on the Strait of Hormuz after Donald Trump said the military was in complete control of the channel.

Mohsen Rezaee, the new secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on social media that the “message is clear” that the strait will remain shut until the US agrees to terms and pulls back.

”The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the US ends the war and blockade, releases Iran’s frozen assets, and agrees to a region-wide ceasefire, including in Lebanon and Gaza,” he said.

“Until all conditions are met, the Strait will remain closed.”

It came after president Trump on Monday snubbed Iran’s six conditions for reopening the strait, which included “payment in full” for damage inflicted on Iran throughout the war.

“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.”

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: “It’s open now”. He also claimed the US was “the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now”.

It comes amid reports that the president hid in a catering truck to escape an Iranian assassination threat when he attended the Nato summit in Ankara last month.

Trump, meanwhile, has demanded war compensation from Iran 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 this week that they would allow traffic to pass through the 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 Truth Social post, 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.”

The price of gold has been on the rise once more, reversing a months-long downward trend which saw the precious metal’s value fall by more than a quarter.

Investors have had a tough time predicting what markets will do this year, with uncertainty from the Iran war hitting inflation, currency markets remaining volatile and and growing concerns over the amounts the largest firms are spending on artificial intelligence.

In such times, previously investors might have turned to gold, seen as a safe haven in troubled times – but instead, the precious metal appeared to mirror some of those other markets with a steep decline in the first half of 2026.

Shortly after the US and Israel attacked Iran, Donald Trump laid out a host of objectives, from destroying Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities to ensuring Tehran can never have a nuclear weapon.

Roughly one month into the war, U.S. sources told Reuters that one-third of Iran’s arsenal was destroyed, with another third likely damaged, destroyed or buried.

It is unclear how many missiles Iran has left, but the country still has the ability to reach US allies – as evidenced in attacks last month across the Gulf.

The US says it has degraded Iran’s conventional military ability to project power in the region or threaten US operations.

But Iran still claims to have closed the Strait of Hormuz until the US agrees to terms including compensation for the war, forcing up oil prices.

Trump has repeatedly said that his main goal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Tehran has consistently said it has no intention of building a bomb.

But the war has not significantly changed Iran’s nuclear capability. US intelligence since the war estimated that Iran would need less than a year to produce a nuclear weapon – the same timeline it laid out following the June 2025 strikes on Iranian facilities.

Trump said on March 2 at the White House that Tehran cannot be allowed to continue to arm and fund the armed proxy groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen that Iran has relied on for decades to project power and harass enemies.

US Admiral Brad Cooper said in May that Iran no longer has the ability to reliably supply those groups with advanced weapons, though he did not specify what that meant. Iran is now demanding the US end its wars in countries inhabited by proxy groups.

Trump encouraged Iranian protesters to overthrow their rulers before the war began and said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death on February 28 was their “single greatest chance” to seize the government. The war has failed to dislodge Iran’s government, but supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed and replaced by his son at the start of the conflict.

Trump in recent months has refrained from repeating his calls for the toppling of Iranian leaders.