Strait of Hormuz

Trump says US opposes Strait of Hormuz tolls, vows to get uranium from Iran

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

US President Donald Trump holds a press conference at the White House in Washington, DC on April 25, 2026.[Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the US opposes any tolls on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and vowed that Iran will not be allowed to retain highly enriched uranium, Anadolu reports.

“We don’t want tolls. It’s an international waterway. They’re not charging tolls right now,” Trump told the reporters at the White House.

Trump claimed Iran is suffering major financial losses because of restrictions on shipping activity.

Asked whether Iran could retain its stockpile of highly enriched uranium under any future arrangement, Trump answered bluntly.

“No, we get the highly enriched; we will get it,” Trump said. “We don’t need it. We don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it.”

Trump reiterated that the US will not let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

“Right now, we’re negotiating, and we’ll see, but we’re going to get it one way or the other. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

READ: US intelligence believes Iran quickly rebuilt military industrial base, producing drones: Report

Trump said the US is monitoring reported negotiations between Iran and Oman over possible tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, while asserting that US forces maintain complete control over maritime traffic in the strategic waterway.

Asked whether it would be acceptable for Iran to negotiate with Oman on formalizing toll charges for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said: “Well, we’re looking at it; we hear about it.”

Trump went on to claim that the US has enforced an effective blockade in the region.

“We have total control of the Strait of Hormuz, as you know, with our blockade,” Trump said. “The blockade has been 100% effective. Nobody’s been able to get through. It’s like a steel wall.”

Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. Trump later extended the truce indefinitely while maintaining a blockade on vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports through the Strait of Hormuz.

READ: Iranian parliament speaker warns of “strong response” to any new US attack

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/

Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ... unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.

Continue ReadingTrump says US opposes Strait of Hormuz tolls, vows to get uranium from Iran

Energy bills will rise by £209 a year to £1,850 from July, forecaster says

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/may/19/energy-bills-rise-july-gas-electricity-prices-cap-great-britain-iran-war

The main driver for the increase in the forecast energy price cap is rising wholesale gas and electricity prices. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Cornwall Insight predicts rise in price cap of nearly 13% in Great Britain as Iran war pushes up gas costs

Energy bills for households in Great Britain could increase by more than £200 a year to almost £1,900 from this summer in “a kick in the teeth” for millions struggling with the cost of living crisis.

A typical gas and electricity bill is forecast to rise to the equivalent of £1,850 a year from July under the industry regulator Ofgem’s quarterly price cap, according to analysis by the energy consultancy Cornwall Insight.

The expected level is nearly 13% higher than the £1,641 cap on energy bills set for April to June, adding £209 to a typical annual bill, after the Iran war caused the UK’s gas market price to double earlier this year.

The main driver for the increase is rising wholesale energy prices, according to Cornwall. Prices climbed sharply in February and March after Tehran effectively cut off Gulf energy supplies to the global market by shutting the strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

…

Cornwall said that, even if the Iran war ended tomorrow, “the physical damage to infrastructure, and lingering effect of disrupted supply, means a fall back to April’s price cap levels in the autumn looks unlikely”.

Its principal consultant, Craig Lowrey, said: “If the cap stays at a similar level as July, that is when the government will need to think seriously about targeted support for the most vulnerable.

…

Article at https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/may/19/energy-bills-rise-july-gas-electricity-prices-cap-great-britain-iran-war

Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Continue ReadingEnergy bills will rise by £209 a year to £1,850 from July, forecaster says

IEA Chief Warns Only ‘Weeks’ of Oil Inventories Left Thanks to Trump’s Iran War

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Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Fuel prices are displayed on a sign as a customer fills their vehicle at a gas station on April 13, 2026 in Miami, Florida. 
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“We are living on borrowed time,” said one economist about global oil prices.

With no end in sight to the Strait of Hormuz crisis caused by President Donald Trump’s illegal war with Iran, the head of the International Energy Agency warned Monday that global energy supplies are running dangerously low.

IEA executive director Faith Birol told reporters in Paris that the world only has weeks’ worth of oil reserves left, raising the likelihood that energy prices will soar even higher in the near future.

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Birol said that oil inventories are “declining rapidly” and added that there was “a perception gap in the markets between the physical markets and the financial markets,” as the price of oil in futures markets has not yet risen to a level that accurately reflects the coming supply crunch.

In his remarks to the press, given on the sidelines of a G7 gathering taking place this week in France, Birol warned that it’s only a matter of time before the supply shortage of fertilizer, which was also caused by the Iran War, leads to a surge in food prices that “might give a big push to inflation numbers.”

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that energy markets are approaching a “tipping point” where prices could see another upward surge that would throw the global economy into a recession.

Paul Diggle, chief economist at fund manager Aberdeen, told The Financial Times that he has been modeling the economic impact of oil hitting $180 per barrel, which he said would set off a global inflation crisis.

“We are taking that outcome very seriously,” Diggle said. “We are living on borrowed time.”

Oil prices briefly fell last month after the US and Iran announced a ceasefire agreement. However, the Strait of Hormuz has remained closed throughout that period, and Trump is reportedly preparing to restart attacks on Iran in the near future if no deal to reopen the strait is reached.

In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump again threatened Iran with destruction unless it agrees to his demands.

“For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,” the president wrote. “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/

Continue ReadingIEA Chief Warns Only ‘Weeks’ of Oil Inventories Left Thanks to Trump’s Iran War

After Offering ‘No Tangible Concessions’ in Iran Peace Talks, Trump Issues Latest Violent Threat

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Article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 15, 2026. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)

“The only realistic path to a diplomatic breakthrough would require Washington to engage more directly with the structure and substance of the Iranian proposal itself,” said a national security expert.

With the economic impact of the war on Iran linked to President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval rating, the president issued his latest threat to destroy the Middle Eastern country Sunday as he demanded negotiators “get moving, FAST” to end the conflict the US and Israel began by choice in February.

“For Iran, the Clock is Ticking,” said the president in a Truth Social post, adding that if a peace deal is not reached soon, “there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

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Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal last week; the country has reportedly offered significant concessions on its uranium enrichment, but seeks to have separate nuclear talks after achieving peace and reaching a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranians effectively closed in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks.

Since launching the conflict, Trump has demanded the dismantling of Iran’s missile arsenal as well as its nuclear program, which Iran has said is not for military purposes, and has called for the country to cut ties with its regional allies.

Iran’s Mehr news agency said Sunday that Trump had offered “no tangible concessions” in his response to the Iranians’ latest proposal.

“The United States,” said the news outlet, “wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations.”

Trump told Fox News in Beijing over the weekend that the Iranians are “crazy, and you know what? Because of that, they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” explaining why he viewed it as “unacceptable” for nuclear talks to take place separately after a peace deal is brokered.

Trump reportedly spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday about the possibility of renewing strikes on Iran, which would break a ceasefire that was reached more than a month ago.

Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, said Sunday that “the only realistic path to a diplomatic breakthrough would require Washington to engage more directly with the structure and substance of the Iranian proposal itself.”

“Iran’s priorities remain consistent: ending what it views as economic siege conditions, reopening maritime access and reducing pressure in the Gulf, negotiating an end to the broader conflict, and only afterward addressing the nuclear issue,” said Citrinowicz. “At the present moment, it is difficult to see the Iranian leadership agreeing to any framework that does not meaningfully engage with those core demands.”

As with Trump’s earlier threats of violence, including one in April in which he declared that Iran’s entire civilization would die, “never to be brought back again,” Iranian officials said the president’s latest comments—which followed his posting of an image of himself on a military ship accompanied by the words, “It was the calm before the storm”—would not be tolerated.

A spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces, Abolfazl Shakarchi, told Mehr that “repeating any folly to compensate for America’s disgrace in the Third Imposed War against Iran will result in nothing but receiving more crushing and severe blows.”

Reporting for Al Jazeera, correspondent Almigdad Alruhaid said that the “kind of language” displayed by Trump on Sunday “is not acceptable here in Tehran. They are projecting defiance rather than [giving] an immediate response to this kind of rhetoric.”

“Behind all of this rhetoric, there is awareness that the diplomatic window right now is narrowing,” said Alruhid.

Meanwhile, US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) urged Trump to “hurt them more” in order to force a deal, calling on the president to go through with bombing Iran’s energy infrastructure as he’s threatened to in recent months.

“The reason why Trump didn’t do this during the war—despite threatening it—was because he realized Tehran would retaliate and take out the energy infrastructure in the [Gulf Cooperation Council] states,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “This would lead to a far worse oil crisis—one rooted in production problems, not just a bottleneck in the Persian Gulf.”

“The global economy would be thrown into a deep recession. Fuel shortages would lead to food shortages worldwide. Trump’s presidency would be destroyed,” he said. “None of this matters to Lindsey. He’ll burn the entire planet as long as he gets his war. Trump’s biggest mistake has been to listen to Lindsey and his allies.”

Article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptoms, small Orca speaks bluntly.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptoms, small Orca speaks bluntly.

Continue ReadingAfter Offering ‘No Tangible Concessions’ in Iran Peace Talks, Trump Issues Latest Violent Threat

Trump Says US Fighting Iran War ‘To Help Israel… Saudi Arabia… Qatar… UAE… Kuwait’—China Too

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Article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

US President Donald Trump holds a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“Trump again says the quiet part out loud—America entered the Iran war to support a genocidal ethno-state and brutal absolute autocracies, all of whom are his political and commercial financiers.”

During his campaign for reelection, one of President Donald Trump’s central pitches was that the US needed to stay out of foreign wars in order to prioritize “America first.”

But his decision to join Israel and launch a massive war with Iran, which has caused turmoil across the American economy, has left many voters rather skeptical of these motivations, believing the war benefits other nations—particularly Israel—more than the US.

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That perception has not been assuaged by statements from officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who acknowledged in the early days of the war that a so-called “imminent threat” to the US only existed because Israel had planned to attack, or by the president’s recent comment that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation” regarding the war.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Thursday, Trump appeared to further affirm that the Iran invasion’s impact on his own country is far from top-of-mind.

Trump was asked by Hannity about his weekslong effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed in response to the war’s launch, causing a spike in global oil prices that has hit the US. Reopening the strait has become one of Trump’s main demands as he pushes for a deal with Iran, even though it was open before the war began.

But Trump said on Thursday that other countries “need the strait more than we need it open.” He cited his administration’s aggressive expansion of oil drilling, which he has claimed would make the US more resilient to the oil shock, although it hasn’t been enough to stop gas prices from soaring above $4.50/gallon on average.

“We don’t need it at all,” Trump said, to which Hannity responded incredulously, “We don’t need it at all?”

“We don’t need it at all,” Trump reiterated. “I mean, you could make the case, you know, like why are we even, we’re doing it to help Israel, and to help Saudi Arabia, and to help Qatar and [the United Arab Emirates] and, you know, Kuwait and other countries, Bahrain—”

Hannity interjected: “It also helps China.”

Speaking of his summit this week with Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping, Trump said: “Actually, I told him today, I said, ‘You know, we’re helping you, and we’re helping you in another way,’ because I don’t think they want, I don’t think China wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon either.’”

Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified in a written statement to Congress in March that Iran had not tried to rebuild its nuclear enrichment capability after earlier US and Israeli attacks last June, which undercut one of the administration’s primary rationales for war.

Trump’s former National Counterterrorism Center director, Joe Kent, said last week that the US intelligence community agreed in the days leading up to the war that “Iran wasn’t developing a nuclear weapon,” but said that these assessments were undermined by persuasion from “a foreign government—Israel,” which “won the argument and forced us into this war.”

Many of the US’s Persian Gulf allies have publicly tried to distance themselves from the war, especially in the face of retaliation from Iran. But The Associated Press has reported that countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain have pushed Trump behind the scenes to continue escalating the war in an effort to weaken Iran militarily and force more permanent changes to the regime.

Some have noted the Trump family’s close personal ties to the Gulf regimes—from his family’s cryptocurrency venture which is buoyed by a $500 million investment from a powerful member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family; to his son in law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, which has received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund; to his real estate empire which has lucrative Trump-branded properties popping up across the region.

Independent journalist Borzou Daragahi said that with his latest comments, “Trump again says the quiet part out loud—America entered the Iran war to support a genocidal ethno-state and brutal absolute autocracies, all of whom are his political and commercial financiers.”

Article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingTrump Says US Fighting Iran War ‘To Help Israel… Saudi Arabia… Qatar… UAE… Kuwait’—China Too