Trump Declares Strait of Hormuz Open as Iran Says Closed, Trade Attacks Continue

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial traffic, despite Iran declaring the waterway closed after the latest exchange of attacks between the two sides. Trump's comments were made during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, even as Iranian forces targeted two ships in the strait, accusing them of ignoring instructions to use an approved transit corridor.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the strait would be "closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region," according to state news agency IRNA.

The US military's Central Command countered on X that the strait was "open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit the international waterway" and that "traffic is flowing."

The latest exchange prompted a barrage of US strikes across Iran, with the US military saying it had hit about 140 targets. Trump told CNN "we hit them very hard last night." Iran's response came quickly, with sirens and explosions heard in Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain. Qatar said three people were injured by Iranian attacks. Sunday's attack on a Cyprus-flagged container ship left one Indian sailor missing, while Oman said it had rescued 23 crew members from the vessel. - The Standard