Topline<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump on Sunday said the Strait of Hormuz was \u201copen as far as we\u2019re concerned,\u201d brushing off a declaration from the Iranian military insisting the waterway was closed once again.<\/p>\n
Trump said the Strait of Hormuz was \u201copen as far as we\u2019re concerned\u201d in an interview on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s open, and I don\u2019t want to talk about it, because I want to honor the life of Lindsey Graham,\u201d Trump told \u201cMeet the Press\u201d<\/a> host Kristen Welker, later adding, \u201cit\u2019s open, we bombed the hell out of them last night, they\u2019re very very evil and sick people.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. and Iran exchanged another round of fire on Saturday, and U.S. Central Command claimed<\/a> it struck 140 military targets including drone and missile sites hours after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship<\/a> with a drone in the strait.<\/p>\n U.S. Central Command also claimed<\/a> the Strait of Hormuz was \u201copen to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit the international waterway,\u201d contradicting a statement<\/a> from Iran\u2019s Persian Gulf Strait Authority\u2014a government agency created in May<\/a> to help control the waterway.<\/p>\n Later on Sunday, speaking to CNN\u2019s State of the Union<\/a>, Trump said the strait was \u201copen as far as we\u2019re concerned,\u201d but refused to answer any further questions about the conflict.<\/p>\n What Has Trump Said About Iran?<\/p>\n Trump offered few details on the most recent operations in the Middle East during Sunday morning interviews, which focused on the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a>, R-S.C.Speaking to \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d Trump claimed Iran \u201cagreed 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.\u201d He told a similar story to CNN, telling host Jake Tapper \u201cwe hit them very hard last night, we had a deal with them yesterday they were giving up everything, then all of a sudden two hours after that they hit a ship with a drone. And I said, \u2018these people, there\u2019s something wrong with them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n Last week, Trump declared the ceasefire between Iran and the United States signed in June was \u201cover,\u201d although he claimed peace talks<\/a> with Iranian negotiators would continue. The announcement still sent shockwaves across international markets. Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz during the war that began in February, sending oil prices skyrocketing. The U.S. responded with a blockade of Iranian ships. <\/p>\n WHAT TO WATCH FOR<\/p>\n Oil futures contracts begin trading for the week at 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday evening, which could provide a clear view of investors\u2019 interpretation of the situation, given how critical the strait is to global oil markets. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading around $71.50 when markets closed Friday, while global benchmark Brent Crude was trading around $76. A spike could indicate investors are concerned about whether traffic will be able to transit through the strait, while a drop or little movement in price would likely indicate investors trust Trump\u2019s assurances that the strait remains open.<\/p>\n Further ReadingForbesIran\u2019s Supreme Leader Vows Revenge For Father After Trump Threatens To Destroy All Of IranBy Antonio Peque\u00f1o IV<\/a>ForbesIran Says Strait Of Hormuz Is Closed After Lebanon Attacks\u2014U.S. Denies It’s ShutBy Antonio Peque\u00f1o IV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline President Donald Trump on Sunday said the Strait of Hormuz was \u201copen as far as we\u2019re concerned,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,12,451,801,228242,5852,3,210369,452,453],"class_list":["post-758872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-lindsey-graham","tag-news","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}