How Trump Failed to Secure the Strait of Hormuz in His Iran Deal

How Trump Failed to Secure the Strait of Hormuz in His Iran Deal focuses on how a June 14 framework agreement with Iran failed to prevent renewed disruption of the vital waterway. For two months, commercial tankers reportedly turned off transponders and relied on quiet U.S. Navy coordination to cross the Strait of Hormuz, with vessels guided toward Oman’s coast during a tentative cease-fire. Traffic rose from May to June until the deal’s wording—granting Iran official power in the strait while remaining vague on key terms—helped end the arrangement. After Iran’s missile and drone attacks, U.S. Central Command said it hit about 140 Iranian military targets in response, for 310 strikes over a week. With Trump warning the agreement may be “over,” global energy prices surged and fears of wider war returned, including because a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG previously passed through the strait.