Strait of Hormuz deal inches closer as oil prices dip; US commits to Tehran sanctions

Iran’s armed forces said Wednesday that several Persian-language media outlets operating abroad are included in their “military target bank,” accusing them of working with U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies.

Armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi named BBC Persian, Iran International and Radio Farda among the outlets, according to remarks aired on state television and reported by Iran International.

“These hostile media outlets are the soldiers of Zionism and America and are included in our military target bank,” Shekarchi said, accusing the organizations of being “directly connected to Mossad, the CIA and enemy intelligence organizations.”

“The Iranian Armed Forces do not view these news outlets as media,” he added.

U.S. forces have crippled Iran’s naval infrastructure and neutralized its capacity to launch coordinated attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Mike Jernigan said Wednesday.

“We have destroyed 159 ships of their ocean-going navy,” Jernigan said on “America Reports”

“We have destroyed countless thousands of their small boats capable of laying mines and attacking ships,” Jernigan stated, adding that U.S. forces have more importantly “damaged and destroyed those piers and ports and wharves and warehouses where all of those boats and capabilities launch from.”

“What you’re seeing now, every two weeks, maybe the Iranians will shoot a drone that could launch from 400 miles away and be steered into a ship as it’s exiting the Strait of Hormuz as a final act of defiance,” he explained, assessing that there are no longer significant attacks posing an active threat to shipping lanes.

His remarks came shortly after President Donald Trump addressed ongoing maritime security in the region, noting that mines previously deployed by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz have largely been cleared.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged President Donald Trump to “tighten the siege” on Iran during a July White House visit, rejecting diplomacy and describing Iran’s leaders as “savages”, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

Citing a video released by his office of a Hebrew-language speech at an Aug. 25 event in Jerusalem, Netanyahu outlined three options he discussed with Trump.

 “Of course, you can make a deal. A good deal — we have no objection. I doubt that you can make a deal with that bunch over there, with those savages,” Netanyahu said.

“I’m telling you: You can’t make a deal.” On military action, Netanyahu warned of severe consequences for Tehran.

“We will not allow Iran to attack us, and if, God forbid, they attack us, they will suffer a blow beyond anything they have imagined — far stronger than anything they have suffered until now,” he said.

Netanyahu said he ultimately presented Trump with the third option, “to tighten the siege” on Iran, leaving the president to “decide.”

After Operation Economic Outcast was announced, Netanyahu said, “What President Trump did yesterday was to tighten the siege on Iran — not by tightening the siege on Iran itself, but by tightening the siege on those who help that regime, that terrible dictatorship.”

Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, is to travel to Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian officials, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

“@MBA_AlThani_ will arrive in Tehran tomorrow, where he will meet with a number of Iranian officials to discuss ways to de-escalate tensions & create the conditions conducive to dialogue,” spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said in a post on X.

“The visit comes in line with the State of Qatar’s firm position that the diplomatic path is the best means of resolving differences & promoting security & stability in the region,” Al Ansari said.

The visit comes as a senior Iranian source told Reuters that Iran and Oman are still working on the details of an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz, despite a statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) that the two countries had agreed on how to share the waterway and its revenues.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf praised China on Wednesday after Beijing rejected Washington’s push to economically isolate Tehran through escalating sanctions.

“We welcome China’s principled statement rejecting illegal sanctions against Iran,” Ghalibaf wrote in a post on X.

“The Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership is rooted in mutual respect, win-win cooperation, and a shared vision for a multipolar world. This relationship needs no one’s permission.”

In a statement Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said China was “firmly against sanctions that have no basis in international law or U.N. Security Council mandate.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei mocked the USS Abraham Lincoln’s planned stop in Thailand following the aircraft carrier’s deployment to the Middle East.

The carrier left the region after an almost seven-month deployment and will stop in Thailand, Thai officials said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

A Thai government official confirmed to the outlet that the Lincoln will make a brief visit to Thailand for “rest and recovery.”

“America sent the USS Abraham Lincoln to the region to project power,” Baqaei said in a post shared on X. “After months of war — and more than 200 days without a single port call — it is now heading to Thailand for crew R&R.”

“Mission: Project Power. Current mission: Project Vacation,” he said.

Baqaei also shared a meme from the movie “The Green Mile” with the caption, “I’m tired, boss.” 

Iran’s executive vice president said Wednesday that the country’s fuel situation is unsustainable, citing insufficient domestic gasoline production and the U.S. port blockade preventing imports.

“Continuing on this path is impossible,” Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said, according to Iran International, which cited the state-run IRNA news agency. “With the U.S. naval blockade, we cannot import gasoline.”

Ghaempanah also said the Iran-U.S. memorandum should be pursued “with military power” to ensure it is carried out.

President Donald Trump honored the 13 American service members who were killed five years ago by what he described as “evil Jihadi terrorists” in Kabul, Afghanistan.

“This catastrophe was a result of Sleepy Joe Biden’s totally botched Withdrawal from the Country, which left our wonderful Servicemen and women defenseless, and allowed the Taliban to free thousands of bloodthirsty terrorists and criminals held at Bagram Prison,” Trump said in a post shared on Truth Social.

“This was one of the greatest atrocities in the History of our Nation, and we can never forget that it was the result of the sheer incompetence of Joe Biden and the Democrats who were in charge,” he added before describing how, during his 2024 campaign, he met with the “Abbey Gate Gold Star Families, wonderful people and Great Patriots, who were totally ignored and disrespected by the Democrat Party.”

“I promised them we would deliver Justice when I returned to the White House— and we have! We quickly apprehended the evil mastermind responsible for the deaths of our Service members, and it has been one of my Greatest Honors as Commander in Chief,” he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that Tehran would press ahead with infrastructure projects across the country despite what he described as the hostility of its enemies.

“Despite the enemies’ blindness, we will develop our country,” Pezeshkian said in a post shared on X before highlighting a list including housing units, transportation projects and solar power plants.

Iran said Wednesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot request inspections of its nuclear sites during the conflict with the U.S. and until the agency draws up a protocol, Reuters reported.

Mohammad Eslami, Iran’s vice president for nuclear affairs and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, also told state media that because the country is in a wartime situation, its nuclear sites have not been secured for inspections, Reuters reported.

Eslami also said U.S. threats to bomb the Pickaxe Mountain site were a “lesson for history, showing that international organizations are pawns in the hands of the United States and the Zionists.”

His comments came as U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Washington’s goal is to end Iran’s nuclear program and that it would prefer a diplomatic solution.

“Iran has a nuclear weapons program and our goal is to stop it,” Wright said at an event in Washington with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.

“An agreement must be reached with Iran under which it renounces nuclear armament,” he said.

Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, surpassed $89 a barrel Wednesday afternoon, up more than 4% from the early morning, when prices were hovering around $85.

Brent has since stabilized at $88.40 per barrel.

The latest up-and-down swings come after two straight days of price declines. Last week, Brent reached a monthly high of more than $94 per barrel.

According to Reuters, Hormuz talks between Iran and Oman had changed the mood in the market Wednesday.

“The market has moved from pricing a high probability of prolonged disruption and renewed escalation towards pricing partial reopening, negotiated shipping arrangements and a lower risk of renewed military confrontation,” Saxo Bank head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen told the outlet.

“A credible agreement that rapidly restores Hormuz traffic could remove another layer of geopolitical premium,” he said.

Meanwhile, gasoline prices have remained relatively steady over the last month, according to AAA.

The average price at the pump across the U.S. on Wednesday was $4.10 per gallon.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s newly launched Operation Economic Outcast against Iran could take anger toward the regime to a “boiling point” and force Tehran into the one situation it “fears the most,” experts tell FOX Business.

The aggressive strategy, labeled as an “Economic D-Day” and initiated under the direction of President Donald Trump, aims to “tighten the noose and block every potential source of revenue that funds the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian regime,” according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The Trump administration also will implement secondary sanctions to pressure nations into severing ties with Tehran, while simultaneously blacklisting nearly 60 people, businesses and vessels involved in illicit trade.

“Anger is simmering just below boiling point,” Kasra Aarabi, the director of IRGC Research at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told FOX Business, referencing the mass protests that unfolded inside Iran earlier this year.

“And these economic measures, that tightening the economic noose, could take it to boiling point.”

“The regime wants to absolutely avoid a situation whereby protests take place against it, and the U.S. has military assets in the region. Because it fears — the one thing it fears the most — is protests with air cover,” he added.

Aarabi said the Iranian regime had already been “suffering economically” prior to the launch of Operation Economic Outcast, with the U.S. military blockading Iranian ports.

This is an excerpt from a report by Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman-Diamond.

FIRST ON FOX: Former Army aviator Rep. Matt Van Epps, R-Tenn., said he “vividly” remembers the moment five years ago when he heard the U.S. was withdrawing from Afghanistan with scant shreds of a plan in place.

“I remember my boss at the time in Tennessee state government asked me, like, ‘Hey Matt, are you OK?’ And, you know, I think the frank answer is no, I’m very upset about this,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And as I talked to my colleagues, some who were serving with me in government, others that were still active-duty Army and in the military, I think the feeling was generally the same, that we spent so much time and effort and to see that unfold the way that it did was just beyond frustrating.”

To this day, Van Epps believes neither the Biden administration nor former President Joe Biden himself have been “adequately held responsible in the aftermath of just an absolutely chaotic withdrawal that did not have to happen.”

It’s part of what motivated him to introduce a resolution marking Wednesday’s fifth anniversary of the tragic bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, which took the lives of 13 U.S. service members in addition to over 100 Afghanis near the Abbey Gate.

Dubai International Airport is eyeing a stronger second half of 2026 as passenger demand rebounds following regional air travel disruptions from the Iran war.

“Strong performance across the airport community in recent months has left us well placed to accommodate returning demand, work closely with our airline partners, and reinforce Dubai’s position as a leading global hub,” CEO Paul Griffiths said in a Wednesday statement.

The United Arab Emirates airport, which has suffered minor damage from Iranian attacks, reported 31.5 million passengers in the first half of 2026, a 31.3% decline from the same period last year.

Air traffic across the region has suffered since restrictions were imposed following the United States and Israel launching its war against Iran on Feb. 28.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) put sanctions on two individuals and three entities, including an anti-Israel organization that reportedly has ties to Hamas and the Houthis.

Masar Badil, formerly known Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, was added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, as well as two of its members.

The Treasury Department described Masar Badil as an advocacy organization that is linked to the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a group that says it advocates for Palestianians that are imprisoned in Israeli jails.

The Anti-Defamation League has accused Masar Badil and Samidoun of hosting webinars with members of Hamas and the Houthis, two U.S.-designated terror groups.

Entities and individuals on the SDN list generally have their assets within U.S. jurisdictions frozen, and U.S. citizens are broadly prohibited from doing business with them.

Also added to the SDN List on Wednesday was Autistici/Inventati, an Italy-based group that builds highly sophisticated digital infrastructure used by violent left-wing organizations in the United States and Europe, along with Islamic terrorists, according to the State Department.

Palestine Action was the third organization added to the sanctions list and was also designated a terrorist group. The group, based in Britain, has said its mission is to end “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.”

Palestine Action had already been designated as a terror organization by the UK government.

President Donald Trump said that if he had not pulled out of former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, Tehran would have obtained a nuclear weapon and used it on Israel.

“He gave them a road, a path to a nuclear weapon,” Trump said of Obama during Glenn Beck’s radio show on Wednesday. “They would have had a nuclear weapon. They would have used it. Israel would have been totally knocked out.”

He continued: “If Donald Trump wasn’t president, there would be no Israel right now. And that’s a guarantee. There would not be an Israel because they would have had nuclear weapons and they would have used them immediately.”

Obama’s deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran agreed to cap uranium enrichment at 3.67%, well below weapons grade, while also allowing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency visit its nuclear sites.

The deal was finalized in July 2015 and Trump pulled out of it in May 2018.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the financial strength of the United States has been built up “like you wouldn’t believe” in the last year and a half since he started his second White House term.

Trump said that, combined with the performance of the U.S. Navy in the blockade of Iran’s ports, is going to lead to a “big victory” in the Middle East.

“Our navy has been unbelievable. Our military has been unbelievable,” Trump said during an interview with Glenn Beck. “We had the victory in Venezuela, and we’re going to have a big victory here very soon.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday that it launched strikes on a Hamas ambush position near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is in northern Gaza.

“From this ambush position in the Jabalia area, Hamas terrorists recently planned to advance attacks against IDF troops and rehabilitate the military capability of the terrorist organization,” the IDF said in a statement on social media.

The IDF said it struck and dismantled the hideout on Tuesday, killing several terrorists. The area was also used by Hamas to store various types of weapons.

A Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday that investigators reviewing the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan recently recovered classified documents that he alleged had been deliberately hidden.

The revelation came on the fifth anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing, which killed 13 U.S. service members during the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan.

Sean Parnell, who leads the Pentagon’s special review panel examining the 2021 withdrawal, said in a video statement that his team recently recovered “highly relevant classified documents” — material he said “should have been disclosed” — that were “stashed and hidden away in safes where they would not be found.”

“After the team reviewed these documents, it became clear why someone tried to hide them,” Parnell said.

Parnell did not disclose the contents of the classified documents or explain precisely why they were relevant to the investigation, but said his team is “following the evidence to wherever it leads and to whoever it touches.”

“I’m not going to give you a convenient version of the truth, nor will I give you a rushed one,” Parnell said. “We’re not accepting incomplete or comfortable answers. The American people and the families who sacrificed everything are owed the full picture of how and why those decisions were made. And we’re going to give it to them.”

War Secretary Pete Hegseth directed Parnell in May 2025 to convene the special review panel to examine the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and reexamine previous investigations into the Abbey Gate attack.

On Aug. 26, 2021, an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport as U.S. forces carried out evacuation operations following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The bombing killed 13 U.S. service members — 11 Marines, one Army soldier and one Navy sailor — as well as approximately 170 Afghan civilians.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz is “functioning” despite occasional attacks on tankers via rockets or drones.

“The strait, it’s functioning. It’s a functioning strait, yes. Every once in a while, there’ll be a drone or a rocket or something shot. But it is a very functioning strait. A lot of oil is pouring out,” he said on Glenn Beck’s radio show.

Trump reiterated that all the mines have been removed from the waterway, adding that he believes the conflict with Iran will “will be ending fairly soon.”

President Donald Trump said on Glenn Beck’s radio show that the Iranian people have not risen up against the Iranian regime out of fear they’ll get shot by rooftop snipers if they go out into the street to protest.

“They have snipers at the tops of buildings, and people go out to protest and they get hit. And they don’t have to hit many,” Trump said. “When you see five or six or 10 people go down and you have 100,000 or 200,000 people, they leave. No, I don’t care who you are, you leave.”

“And it’s very hard to protest when you have people that are willing to shoot you and kill you. And that’s why they’re not protesting,” Trump added.

The president said there’s a chance the situation on the ground could change, claiming that Iran’s navy and air force are “totally gone.” He also said many soldiers within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are not getting paid.

During a phone interview with Glenn Beck, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he doesn’t believe Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is dead.

“I don’t think he’s dead. He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously wounded,” Trump said.

Trump was responding to a recent Atlantic article titled “Is Mojtaba Khamenei Dead?”, which pointed out that the new supreme leader has not been seen in public for months, even by his closest confidantes.

“I don’t think he’s dead. and if he is, they’re putting on a pretty good show because they talk about going back to talk to him all the time to get a final blessing on things,” Trump said.

Mojtaba Khamenei’s father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the initial strikes of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, 2026.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that he hopes to continue peace talks with the United States, while also cautioning that economic pressure will not lead to concessions.

“Our approach is understanding and resolving issues through interaction and negotiation, but at the same time, we have stood and will continue to stand firmly against economic pressure,” Pezeshkian said, according to the Anadolu Agency.

Pezeshkian said the U.S. will “gain nothing” from an economic crackdown.

Pezeshkian made these comments at a central bank meeting, a day after the U.S. officially launched Operation Economic Outcast, a plan to isolate Iran economically and expand sanctions.

“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday. “Those who stand with the United States will reap the rewards of our partnership. Those who tether themselves to Tehran should expect to share in the isolation of a withering regime.”

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, hovered around $86 per barrel Wednesday morning, a level not seen since Aug. 14.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the U.S. crude benchmark, similarly hit a nearly two-week low, dipping to approximately $80.

Falling oil prices come as Iran and Oman say they are close to reaching a deal on establishing a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint that carried roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil supply before the Iran war began in late February.

“I am hopeful we will soon announce a temporary corridor for the Strait of Hormuz and practical arrangements to restore safe navigation,” ⁠Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi posted on X after speaking with his Iranian counterpart.

In May, President Donald Trump expressed opposition to an arrangement where Iran and Oman would control a portion of the strait, calling it “international waters.”

In August, Trump said he’d bomb Oman if it got in the way of U.S. negotiations with Iran.

Washington is not expected to launch further strikes against Iran for now unless Tehran attacks first, Axios reported Tuesday, citing U.S. officials.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has recently told some foreign counterparts that the current posture would stay in place “for the time being,” the outlet said.

One official, however, said Rubio did not rule out strikes if Iran attacks first.

A second official told Axios the posture is expected to remain in place until after the midterm elections, when another military campaign could again be considered.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Monday he was not ruling out renewed U.S. strikes against Iran during the lull in hostilities, The Associated Press reported.

The developments came as the Trump administration ramped up economic pressure on Tehran, including through its blockade of Iranian ports and a new sanctions initiative announced this week by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The Associated Press contributed to this post.