U.S. and Iran Release Mixed Messages on Strait of Hormuz Closure

President Donald Trump and U.S. Central Command disputed Iran’s claim that the Strait of Hormuz is closed “until further notice” after a weekend of strikes exchanged in the region muddled an already tenuous peace agreement.

“Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing,” U.S. Central Command wrote Sunday in a post on X.

Trump said Sunday that the key waterway is open and criticized Iran for striking a ship in the strait amid negotiations with the U.S.

“It’s open. We bombed the hell out of them last night,” Trump said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “They agreed to a deal yesterday, a perfect deal for us. No nuclear, no this, no that, no nothing. They gave up everything, and then after that, they left the room, and then within an hour they launched a drone at a ship.”

Iran struck a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the strait on Saturday. CENTCOM said it launched retaliatory strikes on 140 Iranian military targets in the region to hold “Iranian forces accountable for attacking another commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran then returned strikes on U.S. allies in the region including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran had initially agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels on Saturday after a tense week of reciprocal attacks in the strategic waterway that is crucial to the transportation of oil and gas.

The country’s pledge came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Omani officials met to discuss navigation through the strait “in light of the developments and repercussions arising from recent events,” Oman state media reported Saturday.

American officials demanded through mediators on Friday that Iran open the waterway and pledge to stop firing on commercial ships. Trump had announced two days earlier that the countries’ June 17 ceasefire agreement was “over” — escalating the collapse of the “memorandum of understanding” he’d signed. Regional allies had been working behind the scenes last week toward restoring a truce.

Iran attacked commercial vessels in the strait last week, prompting the U.S. to revoke a temporary license that permitted Tehran to sell oil. The U.S. also launched two nights of retaliatory strikes intended to “further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said last week.

An administration official said last week that the ceasefire deal is “entirely performance-based,” and that Iran will receive its benefits only if it exhibits “good behavior.” While at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump also floated punitive plans that included “taking over” Kharg Island, Iran’s primary export terminal for oil and gas, or reimposing a naval blockade.

On Saturday, the president claimed that a thousand missiles are “Locked and Loaded” at Iran should the government attempt to assassinate him — and that the U.S. military is “ready, willing, and able … to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.”

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz on March 2, days after the United States and Israel began attacking the country. The closure of the strait, which sits along Iran’s southern coast, has become essential leverage for Iran because of the challenges it poses to the global energy market. The country has said the strait, long considered an international waterway, should be under its sole control.