President Donald Trump said Wednesday the Strait of Hormuz was open and the US blockade of Iran had been “100% successful,” as media reports indicated Tehran had lost significant control over traffic through the waterway.
Oil supertankers in Gulf are renting for $500,000 per day: Report Submitted by MEE staff on Wed, 08/19/2026 - 21:10 A fund that allows investors to bet on crude oil freight rates has surged more than 2,000 percent since the start of year In this picture, obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency and taken on 2 May 2026, the Gambia-flagged tanker Bili is anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran (Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA/AFP) Off Supertanker owners are getting paid $510,000 per day to bring crude oil from the Gulf to Asia, in a sign of high demand for vessels to transit the waterway as fighting rages in the region and alternative routes take supply from the market. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that earnings from the Middle East-to-China route have jumped to their highest level since June. The rising figure suggests that demand for vessels is high and some are risking the threat of war to take profits.
DUBAI/DAMASCUS/ANKARA: The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets the conditions of an interim agreement signed with Iran in June, Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in comments published by state media on August 18.
ICC says US sanctions a 'flagrant attack' on court independence The International Criminal Court on Wednesday lashed out at the US after Washington slapped sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane, calling it a "flagrant attack" on the court's independence. The US sanctioned Akane of Japan and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal on Tuesday, as part of Washington's campaign against what it calls a "corrupt and fatally politicised" body. United Nations rights chief Volker Turk and the EU's top officials threw their support behind Akane and her top officials.
France says settler violence justifies its sanctions against Israeli minister Ben Gvir French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot condemned on Wednesday violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, and added that this justified France's recent sanctions against Israel's far-right police minister Itamar Ben Gvir. "What is happening today in the West Bank is utterly disgraceful and should fill us all with revulsion," Barrot wrote on X. "This is why we have sanctioned Israeli minister Ben Gvir, whose recent comments are unacceptable and inhuman," added Barrot.
With Iran making ship traffic perilous, a U. S. operation offers a way out for some energy exports, stealthily shepherding tankers on dangerous journeys.
Iran has survived decades of sanctions. Faced with more, it is likely to escalate rather than surrender, analysts said.
Iraq seeks special status for oil exports through Strait of Hormuz Iraq’s speaker of parliament has called for special status for the country’s oil exports passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Haibat al-Halbousi raised the request during talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in Baghdad on Wednesday, according to a statement from his office. The statement did not explain what arrangements Baghdad wanted or whether Tehran had agreed to consider the proposal.
The Emirates has long been a major trading hub for Iran, and analysts say it has been key to Iranian efforts to evade international sanctions, which the country denies.
German vice chancellor urges EU to consider sanctions against Ben-Gvir German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has urged the European Union to seriously consider sanctioning Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over his call for the nightly killing of Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza. "These are statements that we, as the German government, cannot accept in any way," Klingbeil told German broadcaster Sat. 1 on Tuesday.
Iran records $7. 5bn in oil earnings during first four months of 2026 Iran channelled $7. 5bn in foreign currency earnings from oil sales to its central bank during the first four months of the year, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The US imposed sanctions Tuesday on ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, escalating the Trump administration’s campaign against the court over its efforts to investigate and prosecute officials, including Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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The US president has reportedly shifted to a strategy of attrition aimed at strangling Tehran over time The US has suspended negotiations with Iran and is seeking to gradually "strangle" the country, CNN reported on Tuesday, after its bombing campaign near the Strait of Hormuz failed to yield the desired results.
Iran’s top negotiator says Hormuz Strait will remain closed until US abides by MoU Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the US meets the commitments stipulated in the memorandum of understanding, including lifting its naval blockade. "I want to state clearly that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the American commitments stipulated in the memorandum of understanding... are implemented," Ghalibaf said in a speech aired on state television.
US Justice Department targets Iranian institute for activity linked to IRGC The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced charges on Tuesday against 17 members of Iran’s Mabna Institute for cyber activity and hacking “carried out on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other Iranian entities”. In a statement, the Department said Mabna Institute was involved in “a widespread cyber campaign”, which targeted over than 100,000 accounts belonging to university professors worldwide and stole more than 31 terabytes of academic and intellectual property data, along with email accounts belonging to employees. The campaign targeted 144 US universities and 178 foreign universities, at least 42 US companies and 11 foreign companies, as well as at least five US federal and local government agencies and two nongovernmental organisations, resulting in costs exceeding $20m, according to the statement.
UAE cuts off trade with Iran until further notice The UAE said on Tuesday that all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transations with Iran have been halted until further notice, according to a statement from the country's foreign ministry. The statement added that the decision comes in light of Iran's regional escalation that "undermine regional and international peace and security". The UAE's defence ministry also posted on X on Tuesday that the two ballistic missiles launched earlier from Iran into its territory were targeting maritime traffic and fell into the sea.
US sanctions International Criminal Court president, trial lawyer in bid to dismantle body Submitted by MEE staff on Tue, 08/18/2026 - 20:29 Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously made it clear he intends to take the court apart 'brick by brick' Japanese Judge Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, delivers a speech during a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, on 14 June 2024 (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP) Off The US announced on Tuesday that it is sanctioning the Japanese president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Tomoko Akane, as well as the body's Senegalese senior trial lawyer, Abdoulaye Seye. The move is just the latest step in implementing US President Donald Trump's stated mission of dismantling the ICC for investigating Israeli and, potentially, US officials for war crimes. Neither country is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court in 2002.
ICC says US sanctions 'undermine the rule of law' The International Criminal Court (ICC) said in a statement on Tuesday that US sanctions on its top members "undermine the rule of law" after Washington imposed measures on the ICC president and its senior lawyer. "When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk," the court said in a statement sent to reporters. It added that it remains undeterred and stands firmly behind its personnel.
US announces sanctions on ICC president and senior lawyer US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced sanctions against the president and a senior lawyer of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The US imposed sanctions on Tuesday on Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge who is president of the ICC, and ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, according to the US Treasury Department website. Rubio accused the individuals of directly engaging "in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction".
