US-Middle East war: Iran insists it has sole control of Hormuz, ignoring Donald Trump’s threats

Iran insisted on Sunday it had a right to full control of the Strait of Hormuz, brushing aside US President Donald Trump’s threats to “complete the job” of the war he launched four months ago if Tehran did not relent on the waterway.

Days of strikes by Washington and Tehran, which escalated after an Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the strait on Thursday, have tested the fragile ceasefire agreement signed earlier this month and raised questions about the state of talks to reach a broader piece.

A US official said on Sunday that both sides were set to continue talks on “all areas” of the memorandum of understanding that the U.S. and Iran signed earlier this month.

“Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,” the official said on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

At the heart of the ceasefire deal reached this month was an agreement to allow safe passage of vessels through the strait, which Trump hopes will relieve strains on the US economy resulting from increasing prices of energy and other goods.

The two countries accuse each other of violating the agreement, which calls for an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts” and for all parties “to refrain from the threat or use of force”.

The war sharply curtailed shipments of goods such as oil and fertiliser, driving up costs of gasoline, food and other items. While oil prices eased after the signing of the framework agreement, a full-scale renewal of hostilities could cause them to rise again.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that the “management and full reopening” of the Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s responsibility.

“Any intervention or attempt to create arrangements contrary to the existing understandings will only complicate the situation, delay the return of normalcy to the Strait of Hormuz, and increase tension,” he said at a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad.

Araghchi said Iran is working on reopening the strait so that it reaches pre-war capacity within 30 days - a timeline in keeping with the memorandum of understanding.

Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the United Nations, said the Iranian regime is “sadly mistaken” if it “thinks for a second that President Trump is going to sit by, stand by, while Iran continues to attack international shipping without a response”.

“They saw that loud and clear over the last few nights,” Waltz told Fox News on Sunday.

Trump said late on Saturday on Truth Social that the US struck Iran “for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!”

“It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he wrote.

His post came after the US military launched airstrikes against Iranian targets in what it called retaliation for Iran violating the ceasefire.

Earlier Saturday, Iran said it launched strikes on U.S. interests in the Middle East and another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz reported damage after being hit by an “unidentified projectile.”

After the latest U.S. strikes, the governments of Bahrain and Kuwait said their countries were targeted, as Iran said it launched a retaliatory attack.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attacks on Iran “show that the US regime places no value on its commitments and that breaking its promises is part of its nature,” according to the state-rum Islamic Republic News Agency.

Several countries denounced the attacks on the two Persian Gulf states.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Sunday on X that she condemns the attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and in the Strait of Hormuz - which she said “are putting civilian lives at risk, and curtailing freedom of navigation.”

The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry said the “renewed hostile” attacks by Iran are a “flagrant violation” of the countries’ sovereignty.

Qatar’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that a Qatari citizen aboard a boat that failed to return on schedule on Saturday had been killed after “sustaining injuries from shrapnel resulting from the military operations in the area.”

The ministry did not say in its statement whether this was related to the Iranian attacks over the weekend.

Iran and the U.S. differ on whether the memorandum of understanding they signed gives Iran the ability to control which vessels can cross the strait and when.

The agreement also calls for 60 days of negotiations between the two sides with the aim of reaching a broader peace deal that would address Washington’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.