Iran-US war latest: Trump claims total control of Hormuz as he demands Iran pay for US soldiers’ deaths

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.

• Ali Abdollahi: Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, overseeing coordination across the military.
• Kioumars Heydari: Deputy Chief of Staff.
• Ahmad Vahidi: New IRGC commander, tasked with boosting deterrence and readiness for “powerful offensive operations”.
• Mostafa Izadi: Vahidi’s deputy, responsible for operational readiness.
• Ali Ozmaei: New IRGC Navy commander, a key role amid tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.
• Hossein Taeb: New Basij commander, focusing on mobilisation and domestic intelligence. Basij is Iran’s paramilitary volunteer militia within the IRGC.

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.”

Donald Trump has declared that it “always works out” as he said the US will scale down the intensity of its efforts to reopen shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Talks to end their war and reopen shipping through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to have stalled, after Tehran demanded a series of conditions, including the payment of compensation, before it reopens the waterway.

“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he told Axios. “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game.”

Tehran is in negotiations with Oman to partially open up the Strait, but set out six conditions the US must meet, including a permanent end to the war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq.

Donald Trump secretly switched from Air Force One to a smaller military jet after last month’s Nato summit in Turkey amid an Iranian assassination threat, The Washington Post reported.

After publicly boarding an older Air Force One, Trump was reportedly moved via an airport catering truck to an Air Force C-32A and flown to the UK, while journalists were led to believe he remained on Air Force One.

The US has not independently confirmed the report.

“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

During a gaggle with reporters aboard the aircraft, Trump was asked directly if there was any credible threats on Air Force One by Iran, according to the Associated Press.

“Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list before you,” Trump said. He added to the travelling reporters, “But if I go, you go.”