The Iranian regime is once again proving why it cannot be trusted.
Despite a delicate ceasefire agreement, Iran is already backsliding, attempting to choke off the world’s oil supply and reportedly shaking down tankers for “tolls” in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Gateway Pundit reported on Wednesday that Fars News Agency, the official propaganda arm directly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that tanker traffic is now “suspended” after Israel continued hammering Hezbollah.
PBS journalist Elizabeth Landers confirmed that President Trump told her directly: Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon is NOT part of the ceasefire deal.
According to reports from Fox News’ Trey Yingst, the Strait of Hormuz is now effectively a hostage of the Iranian Navy.
Trey Yingst:
State media reports that Iran has halted the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz after Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon earlier today. We know two vessels were able to go through this passageway, but again, state media is reporting that the Iranians are choking off the strait.
I just got off the phone with a senior Israeli official who was sounding the alarm about this action by the Iranians, saying, “Only just a few hours into this ceasefire, the Iranians are already showing that they are trying to leverage their control over the strait and put pressure on global energy trade.”
The Trump administration initially pushed back on claims that the Strait had been fully shut down.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the reports as misleading, arguing that Iran’s public messaging doesn’t match what’s happening behind closed doors. She pointed to increased traffic and private assurances that the Strait remained open.
Forbes reported:
“White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said reports the strait is closed are “a case of what they’re saying publicly is different privately—we have seen an uptick in traffic in the strait today,” she said, adding, “it has been relayed to [Trump] privately” that the strait remains open “and these reports publicly are false.””
But mounting evidence suggests otherwise.
Shipping data and international reports indicate that traffic remains severely restricted, with vessels hesitant, or outright unable, to pass due to Iranian control and threats.
President Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to put the radical regime on notice:
“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!”
In a follow-up post, Trump called the regime’s behavior “dishonorable” and warned that the current blockade of energy exports is a direct violation of ongoing negotiations.
“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz. That is not the agreement we have!”
More from New York Post:
Trump posted on his Truth Social late Wednesday that US forces would remain in the region until Tehran made good on its agreement.
“It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE,” the president said.
Around 820 commercial vessels remain trapped in the Gulf, with just five having exited on the first day of the cease-fire Wednesday, according to global ship tracking firm Kpler.
“All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump warned Iran late Wednesday in his Truth Social post.
“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘shootin’ starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”
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