Pakistan started the day by floating optimistic reports of the warring sides reverting to 'moving toward peace efforts' - however that appears very short-lived, or really was probably never a reality, given soon on the heels of these claims a top Iranian official has reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US corrects its 'behavior'. According to fresh reports out of state media sources:
Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Rezaei says Strait of Hormuz will not open until the US changes its behavior and accepts Iran's conditions.
This comes amid widespread reports that Iran has just undergone a significant military shuffling of top command leadership, which points to the ascent of the 'hardliner' crowd - as in those who are against signing an MoU deal with Washington...
Iran’s Leader has appointed 6 top military commanders:
• Ali Abdollahi: Chief of Staff
— Arya Yadegaar (@AryJeayBackup) August 10, 2026
• Ahmad Vahidi: IRGC Commander
• Kiumars Heydari: Deputy Chief of Staff
• Mostafa Izadi: Deputy IRGC Commander
• Ali Ozmayi: IRGC-Navy Commander
• Hossein Taeb: Chief of Basij. pic.twitter.com/3usuJwSm1y
The Wall Street Journal and others are picking up on Tehran's obvious shift away from negotiations, and toward a more permanent state of military resistance. It writes: "Now, the new supreme leader, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, is putting his own stamp on the country’s national-security policy amid a confrontation with the U.S. that could last months or even years."
According to more of WSJ's analysis:
In a sweeping overhaul of the government’s top echelon on Sunday and Monday, Iran named seasoned hard-liners to run the country’s security policies and institutions of repression.
It marked the most significant government reshuffle under Mojtaba Khamenei, who hasn’t been seen in public since the war began. U.S. intelligence agencies say he is alive but severely injured, and top Iranian cabinet members say they have never met him since he took office. Iranian officials say he was injured but in good health.
Analysts said the appointments signaled Khamenei’s determination to hold fast in a showdown with President Trump, who is seeking concessions on Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz.
“The regime is preparing for a more confrontational posture at home and abroad,”said Kasra Aarabi, an expert on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful paramilitary force, at United Against Nuclear Iran, a policy organization that opposes Iran’s government.
For some - especially the non-interventionists, it was obvious the war would take this course from day one.
Despite what are clearly ongoing attacks on international vessels in regional waters, suddenly mediators are feeling optimism again, and decided to float another apparent round of pre-US market open headlines suggesting peace could return.
Though there's as yet no evidence of this, the Pakistani Defense Minister has signaled that the US and Iran are close to some agreement and that the situation is moving towards peace. Oil prices promptly plummeted ahead of market open. Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi, has also just arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials amid going mediation efforts, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.
This came ironically just as reports of more serious shipping incidents, at least one of them deadly, emerged in regional waters, but perhaps the brief 'peace is near' headline redux had its intended effect on markets.
And significantly, the US is clearly still enforcing its military blockade of Iranian ports - and so no, the warring sides do not seem 'close' to a return to deal-making, instead the ground reality is quite the opposite:
US forces reportedly fired on a Panama-flagged ship that attempted to run the American blockade of Iranian ports early Tuesday, according to WSJ citing a US official.
"A U.S. military helicopter fired at the rudder of the ship after its crew ignored warnings from American personnel working to enforce the naval blockade of Iran’s ports, the official said," The Wall Street Journal details:
"There were no immediate reports of any casualties in the incident, which took place before dawn on Tuesday. The U.S. official said the ship appeared to be attempting to transfer its crew to another civilian vessel after the attack," the report adds.
There's been a major deadly attack on a commercial ship in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait region off Yemen on Tuesday, amid the ongoing escalation against Saudi shipping by the Houthis.
Yemen's internationally recognized government has announced that at least three people have been killed in a Houthi attackon an unidentified commercial ship in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, however there's been no immediate confirmation forthcoming from the Houthis themselves.
The small vessel has been identified as the Tanzania-flagged Tihamah, and reports say this marks the first deaths from Houthi maritime attacks since the start of the Iran war in February.
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