President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that Iranian officials have requested the United States drop its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as ceasefire negotiations have failed to yield substantive progress in recent weeks.
Trump posted on Truth Social, just before markets opened Tuesday morning, that “Iran has just informed us that they are in a ‘State of Collapse.’”
“They want us to ‘Open the Hormuz Strait,’ as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!),” the president wrote in the brief message. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Since the start of the war, oil transportation through the strait has ground to a nearly complete halt.
U.S. oil futures, which have stagnated around $95 per barrel for more than two weeks, rose to $111 per barrel overnight into Tuesday morning for the first time since the U.S. and Iran entered into a ceasefire earlier this month. National gas prices have also spiked to $4.18, a new-war high, as of Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has issued a less-than-enthusiastic response to Iran’s latest proposal for ending the war.
TRUMP’S HORMUZ BLOCKADE UNLIKELY TO DRAW CHINA INTO IRAN WAR
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following discussions with Trump and other national security officials at the White House on Monday, said the plan appeared “better” but still lacked deliverables regarding the shuttering of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
“Suffice it to say that the nuclear question is the reason why we’re in this in the first place,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News.