The U.S. launched strikes on Iran early Tuesday morning, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
\n\nThree boys play in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, as a plume of smoke rises from an explosion in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
\n\nPeople walk past a billboard showing the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Islamic Revolution Square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, July 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
\n\nPresident Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
\n\nA focal point of the Iran war is increasingly about who controls the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow, elbow-shaped waterway that for decades was a relatively safe and reliable transit route for Middle East oil and natural gas supplies.
\n\nBy saying that an interim ceasefire gave it the right to establish the terms under which ships traversed the strait, and threatening and firing upon vessels that did not use its preferred route, Iran has sought…
Original source: https://apnews.com/business