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A foreign container ship runs aground in the Strait of Hormuz after entering shallow waters outside the shipping route “designated” by Iranian authorities.
Iran’s top negotiator says Hormuz is Tehran’s “greatest instrument of power” and insists talks on a final deal will not begin until initial provisions are implemented by the US.
Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen says Israel’s control over the Gaza Strip “will only continue to grow” until it reaches “100 percent”.
Vance says that negotiations with Iran “have gone extremely well” and that the US is “working to ensure that the progress we have made continues”.
He said that Trump’s “instructions are clear: to press ahead to reach an agreement and to negotiate in good faith”, adding that “we see significant momentum amongst those within the Iranian regime who are seeking to turn a new page”.
French shipping company CMA CGM hopes the shipping situation in the Strait of Hormuz will improve in the coming days but expects a return to normal to take several months, its chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saade told the French business daily Les Echos.
The group has had several vessels stuck inside the Gulf since the US-Israel war on Iran began at the end of February, Saade said during the interview.In peacetime, about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through the strategic waterway.
US says if Iran tries to ‘threaten its neighbours’, Trump ‘has options’ for responding
US Vice President JD Vance says that if Iran pursues various measures he says could destabilise the region, then Trump has several ways in which he could respond to the Islamic Republic.
“If Iran attempts to rebuild its nuclear programme, threaten its neighbours and support terrorism, President Trump has options to deal with it,” Vance said in a statement.Iran has consistently denied allegations that it is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.
Vance added that the US “dropped bombs on Iran because it fired on ships, and we used leverage to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”.The vice president also confirmed that a US delegation is holding indirect talks with Iran in the Qatari capital Doha “to discuss the details and flow of maritime traffic”.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says its peacekeepers will remain at their posts to support efforts at maintaining stability in the country’s south.
“UNIFIL peacekeepers remain on the ground, monitoring the situation and reporting observed violations in line with our mandate under Security Council resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said in a message on Telegram.
The resolution demands a full cessation of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, establishes a demilitarised buffer zone between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River, and requires the disarmament of all armed groups operating in Lebanon.
The peacekeepers’ mission has been impeded by “restrictions to their freedom of movement, including blocked routes due to barriers, debris, and other obstacles temporarily [halting] essential patrols and safety operations”, continued the statement.
“Despite these challenges, our peacekeepers stay in position and remain committed to supporting stability in southern Lebanon,” concluded the message.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying that no meeting took place between the Iranian and American delegations in Doha.
He said that the Iranian delegation’s meetings in Doha were held only in a trilateral format with the Qatari and Pakistani delegations.
He added that the meetings of the Iranian delegation with the Qatari and Pakistani delegations were to follow up on the implementation of the provisions of the memorandum of understanding with the US, especially regarding Lebanon and the release of Iran’s frozen assets.
Crude oil held in the US’s strategic petroleum reserves has dipped to its lowest level in more than four decades, Reuters is reporting.
Energy firms pulled 5.5 million barrels of crude from the reserve in the week ending June 26, reducing the total amount of oil to 325.7 million barrels – the lowest since May 1983, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration.
The US created its own strategic petroleum reserve in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo exposed Washington’s energy security vulnerabilities.It has the world’s largest reserve among countries that publicly report them, with a maximum capacity of about 720 million barrels.How war on Iran changed the global energy sector forever
Since the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran in late February, the global energy sector has undergone major upheaval.
While ongoing US-Iran negotiations to reach a lasting peace have raised hopes for a return to stability in oil and gas markets, the war has already transformed the global energy landscape in ways that are likely to be long-lasting and even permanent, according to energy experts.