{"id":649984,"date":"2026-06-21T04:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T04:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/649984\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T04:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T04:02:13","slug":"iran-us-war-latest-trump-threatens-guardian-angel-tolls-on-strait-of-hormuz-after-tehran-declares-it-shut-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/649984\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-US war latest: Trump threatens \u2018Guardian Angel\u2019 tolls on Strait of Hormuz after Tehran declares it shut again"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>US forces monitoring Strait of Hormuz to ensure it stays open<\/p>\n

The US military has denied Iran’s claims that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, saying the critical waterway remained open and that US forces were monitoring the situation to ensure that continued.<\/p>\n

“Iran does not control \u2060the Strait of \u200bHormuz,” \u2060US Central Command spokesperson \u200cNavy Captain Tim Hawkins told Reuters.<\/p>\n

“Traffic continues to \u200cflow, and US \u200cforces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the \u2060case.”<\/p>\n

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz shut earlier on Saturday and warned ships not to approach the waterway, \u200ccasting new doubt \u200bon the future \u200cof a ceasefire agreement \u2060between the US \u2060and Iran meant to pave \u200cthe way \u200bfor in-depth peace \u200ctalks.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai21 June 2026 04:44<\/p>\n

<\/a>Pakistan PM and army chief to participate in technical-level talks in Switzerland today<\/p>\n

Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir will participate in the technical-level talks being held in Burgenstock, Switzerland on 21 June, the PM’s office announced yesterday.<\/p>\n

The \u2060country’s foreign ministry said US and Iranian representatives would participate in \u200cthe meeting, \u200balong with \u200cmediators from \u2060Pakistan and \u2060Qatar.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai21 June 2026 04:40<\/p>\n

<\/a>Trump says Meloni did not allow US to use landing strips in Iran<\/p>\n

In his post, Donald Trump has complained that Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni would not allow the US to use Italy\u2019s landing strips or runways during the Iran war even though the US is a leader in defence spending among Nato allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wouldn\u2019t even let us use Italy\u2019s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year to protect Italy, and other \u201cso-called\u201d NATO Allies. Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her \u201cnumbers up.\u201d No thanks!!! President DJT,\u201d Trump said in a post on TruthSocial.<\/p>\n

This has been a long-standing complaint about the military alliance and one that Trump is raising again before his White House meeting Wednesday with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte and the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai21 June 2026 04:29<\/p>\n

<\/a>Vance confident that Iran ceasefire would hold<\/p>\n

US vice president JD Vance said he was confident the ceasefire would hold and that he had seen no evidence that the Strait of Hormuz was closed. <\/p>\n

“We’re going to go after that enriched stockpile of uranium,” Vance told Fox News in an interview.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to try to reset the situation that we have, so that the Iranians don’t just have a destroyed nuclear program now, but so that we can say with some confidence, through a combination of inspections and verification, that they’re never going to be able to rebuild that program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The US vice president left for Switzerland shortly after 4pm ET (2100 GMT) on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNegotiators would likely have a couple days of talks”, he told reporters before boarding a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.<\/p>\n

“I think we’re going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue,” he said.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai21 June 2026 04:17<\/p>\n

<\/a>The six reasons why Trump’s deal is already falling apart<\/p>\n

An agreement to end the war in Iran has many points of vulnerability. Mary Dejevsky breaks them all down:<\/p>\n

Mary Dejevsky21 June 2026 04:15<\/p>\n

<\/a>US disputes Iranian claims about closing Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n

US officials have disputed Iranian claims about closing the key Strait of Hormuz after the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the critical waterway shut.<\/p>\n

The IRGC claimed despite the US and Iran agreeing to a 60-day ceasefire while negotiations take place.<\/p>\n

The US military said commercial vessels had continued operating in the waterway.<\/p>\n

Those developments could complicate talks in which both sides seek to advance an interim deal brokered by Pakistan and signed on Wednesday by presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian to end their almost four-month war.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai21 June 2026 03:53<\/p>\n

<\/a>Iran believes it has the \u2018upper hand,\u2019 former Pentagon official says<\/p>\n

As diplomats gather in Switzerland in the midst of uncertainty and heightened tensions over an agreement to end the war, Iranian officials are willing to continue risking rupturing the talks because the regime believes it has the \u201cupper hand,\u201d a former Pentagon official told ABC News.<\/a><\/p>\n

The chaos continued Saturday as Iran announced it was closing the Strait of Hormuz, after Israel continued to bombard Lebanon in a \u201cblatant breach\u201d of a memorandum of understanding to end the war on all fronts.<\/p>\n

US military officials however continue to insist that Iran does not control the waterway.<\/p>\n

Iran believes it is negotiating from a position of strength by exerting control over a passage that is critical to global oil supplies, according to Mick Mulroy, who oversaw Middle East defense policy during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re getting most of the benefits that we never thought that we would concede to \u2014 by any administration \u2014 before we even get into the nuclear discussions,\u201d he told ABC.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Getty)<\/p>\n

Alex Woodward21 June 2026 03:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Lebanese advocate for endangered sea turtles killed by Israeli strike<\/p>\n

Mona Khalil, a Lebanese conservationist and advocate for endangered sea turtles, has died from injuries after she was wounded in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Khalil, 76, was injured by an Israeli strike near her house in Mansouri beach, near the southern city of Tyre, two weeks ago. She died Friday after spending several days in hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades, Mona dedicated her life to protecting endangered sea turtles and their nesting habitats,\u201d Lebanese conservation group Green Southerners said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the Orange House, she inspired generations of Lebanese to value and protect their natural heritage and coastal ecosystems. Her work made her one of Lebanon\u2019s most respected voices for marine conservation and biodiversity protection,\u201d the group added.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreen Southerners strongly condemns the attack that claimed Mona Khalil\u2019s life and injured her assistant,\u201d Green Southerners said. \u201cThe strike targeted a site that had long been known for environmental conservation, biodiversity protection, and public awareness. Her death stands as a stark reminder that the ongoing violence in southern Lebanon is exacting a devastating toll on civilians, environmental defenders, and the natural heritage they sought to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Alex Woodward21 June 2026 02:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Pentagon used Elon Musk\u2019s Grok AI to fire 2,000 missiles at Iran, official says<\/p>\n

Donald Trump\u2019s administration turned to Elon Musk\u2019s Grok chatbot to launch thousands of missiles in Iran, according to a top defense official.<\/p>\n

In court filings this week, the Pentagon\u2019s artificial intelligence chief said the chatbot\u2019s continued operation is \u201ca matter of paramount national security\u201d \u2014 and was used to fire more than \u201c2,000 munitions at 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, is among four AI models \u201ccurrently capable of supporting national security applications,\u201d according to Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon\u2019s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.<\/p>\n

Alex Woodward21 June 2026 01:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Iran negotiating team arrives in Zurich<\/p>\n

An Iranian negotiating team has arrived in Zurich, according to state media IRIB.<\/p>\n

The delegation is led by Iranian parliament speaher Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, national security council deputy scretary Ali Bagheri, and foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei.<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance is on his way, and talks are expected to begin Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Reuters)<\/p>\n

Alex Woodward21 June 2026 00:31<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US forces monitoring Strait of Hormuz to ensure it stays open The US military has denied Iran’s claims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[32332,1397,49,11237,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-649984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-animal","tag-environment","tag-headlines","tag-horizontal","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}