Iran has “lost complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday (October 7, 2026), adding that Tehran’s economy was “in total and complete freefall”.

“The Straits of Hormuz are open. There’s almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began. So they’ve lost complete control of the Straits,” Mr. Rubio told reporters during a visit to Athens.

He argued that as a result of “crippling” sanctions, the Iranian economy was “about to reach a place few countries in the world have been”.

Every dollar received by the “radical Shia clerics” is spent on Hezbollah and Hamas, he said.

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, simple, period, end of story,” Mr. Rubio said.

“And anything they agree to that would be acceptable to the United States has to be something that ensures that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

He argued that what Iran “was trying to do was build up a conventional capability so massive that they would become untouchable”.

Eleven Indian crew members were injured on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) after a Panama-flagged commercial vessel was hit by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, prompting a strong condemnation from India.

The vessel, MT On Peace, carried 19 crew members, including 17 Indian nationals. In total, 12 crew members — 11 of them Indians — sustained injuries in the strike, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

“We condemn the attack earlier today on a Panama-flagged commercial vessel MT On Peace off the coast of Oman, where it was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the MEA said in a statement.

“Of the total crew of 19, 17 are Indian nationals. It is learnt that 12 crew members have been injured, including 11 Indian nationals,” it said.

The MEA said continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region remain a “cause of deep concern” for India.

“We reiterate our call for an immediate cessation of such attacks in the interests of peace and stability in the region,” it said.

“The targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and navigation and commerce through international waterways must be restored at the earliest,” it added.

The MEA said the sailors of the vessel were evacuated with the help of Omani authorities.

“With the assistance of Omani authorities, the injured crew have since been evacuated and are receiving medical treatment in Khasab, Oman. We thank the Omani authorities for their valuable support,” it said.

Eleven Indian crew members were injured on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) after a Panama-flagged commercial vessel was hit by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, prompting a strong condemnation from India.

The vessel, MT On Peace, carried 19 crew members, including 17 Indian nationals. In total, 12 crew members — 11 of them Indians — sustained injuries in the strike, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

“We condemn the attack earlier today on a Panama-flagged commercial vessel MT On Peace off the coast of Oman, where it was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the MEA said in a statement.

“Of the total crew of 19, 17 are Indian nationals. It is learnt that 12 crew members have been injured, including 11 Indian nationals,” it said.

The MEA said continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region remain a “cause of deep concern” for India.

“We reiterate our call for an immediate cessation of such attacks in the interests of peace and stability in the region,” it said.

“The targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and navigation and commerce through international waterways must be restored at the earliest,” it added.

The MEA said the sailors of the vessel were evacuated with the help of Omani authorities.

“With the assistance of Omani authorities, the injured crew have since been evacuated and are receiving medical treatment in Khasab, Oman. We thank the Omani authorities for their valuable support,” it said.

​Iran’s ‌parliamentary speaker said on ​Tuesday (September 29, 2026) ⁠no country in ‌the region would ‌be ‌able ⁠to ⁠export oil if the Islamic ​Republic ‌was prevented from selling its ‌own oil, ​state media reported.

No ⁠regional infrastructure would ‌be safe if Iran had no security, ‌Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf added, according ⁠to the reports.

Fewer than 20 commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz at ​the weekend, shipping data showed on Monday (August 24, 2026), as Iranian and U.S. ‌blockades restrict traffic through the chokepoint for energy shipments.

Four vessels ​crossed the strait on Sunday (August 23, 2026), initial data ⁠from shiptracker Kpler showed by 0228 GMT, with 13 on Saturday (August 22, 2026). The figures could change as some ships had switched off transponders on their ‌way through.

That compared with Friday’s (August 21, 2026) figure of 16 transits, with two empty very large crude carriers (VLCCs) entering ‌the Gulf with the tracking devices switched off, one heading ‌to ⁠Iraq and the other to Bahrain, the data ⁠showed.

A VLCC carrying 2 million barrels of Emirati crude exited the strait on Thursday (August 20, 2026).

Eight very large gas carriers transited the strait over the past three days, ​the data showed, six ‌of them entering empty while the others carried liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) loaded from Iran and exited the Gulf.

Overall traffic volumes remained suppressed in the week to August 21, as vessels ‌aborted transit plans or switched routes through the strait’s ​north after attacks, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said in a report.

A total of 89 ⁠vessels exited the strait while 103 entered over the seven-day period, the report, based on Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, showed.

“Traffic remains ‌well below normal levels, with AIS-detected transits approximately 90% below pre-conflict baselines and declining since the June 24 to June 26 peak,” it added.

Tanker traffic, at 45% of the total, continued to dominate movement through the strait, the agency said. Of these, 56% were tankers that carry crude oil, oil products ‌or chemicals while LPG carriers accounted for a further 24%.

Since July 6, ​the UKMTO has reported 23 incidents of projectile strikes, leading to bridge, engine-room, and structural damage across vessels ⁠in the strait and its vicinity.

A total of 24 commodity ⁠vessels sailed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday (August 23, 2026), down from Saturday’s (August 22, 2026) figure of 32, which was an increase ‌from 22 on Friday (August 21, 2026), Kpler data showed.

Two VLCCs entered the Red Sea on Saturday (August 22, 2026) with one carrying Iraqi ​Basrah crude and the other empty, it showed.

Iran on Sunday (August 23, 2026) executed a man accused of carrying a chainsaw during January anti-government protests who was charged with acting as an agent of Israel and the United States.

The judiciary said Majid Adineh had been convicted of “operational action in favour of hostile groups” in nationwide rallies that broke out late last year.

He is one of a string of people put to death over the protests, which were sparked by economic hardships in Iran.

Adineh was accused of “deliberate arson, gathering and collusion with the intention of committing crimes against the country’s internal security”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said in a report Sunday (August 23, 2026).

“Based on numerous documents and evidence in the case and the defendant’s statements, the Karaj Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death and confiscation of all his property.”

An appeal by Adineh was unsuccessful and the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, with his execution carried out Sunday (August 23, 2026) morning, Mizan said.

He and another suspect were arrested on January 9 in Alborz province, west of Tehran, carrying “a revolver, ammunition, two tasers, two tear gas canisters, a rechargeable chainsaw, and a bottle of gasoline”, Mizan added.

The protest movement was initially sparked in late December by grievances over high living costs but rapidly evolved into widespread anti-government demonstrations that peaked on January 8 and 9.

Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths from the unrest, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts” orchestrated by the United States and Israel.

The number of executions in Iran has risen since the start of the West Asia war, which broke out on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran.

A large number of the executions have been linked to the protests, with other cases related to the war.

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people last year, a record high since 1989, according to Iran Human Rights, an NGO based in Norway, and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), which is headquartered in Paris.

According to Amnesty International, Iran conducts the second most executions of any country, after China.

Iran on Saturday (August 15, 2026) fired back at U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory, saying the crucial energy waterway it has blockaded “will remain Iranian”.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly said the strait, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the West Asia war in late February, is under U.S. control an assertion the Islamic Republic denies.

“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on X.

“This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command.”

Mr. Trump told a political rally in New York state on Friday (August 14) that after the U.S. defeats Iran, “pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States”.

“It’s true,” he added. An unnamed White House official later clarified that Mr. Trump was joking, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Last week, a top Iranian official laid out a laundry list of conditions for reopening the strait, including an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq”.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr also demanded the end of crippling sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage.

Ongoing attacks

As diplomacy stalls between the decades-long foes, attacks in the Hormuz strait have continued, highlighting the continued risks to regional shipping.

United Arab Emirates’ state-owned oil giant ADNOC said Saturday (August 15) one of its vessels came under attack the night before.

On Friday (August 14) the Gulf nation blamed Iran for other attacks on two vessels linked to ADNOC as they passed through the strait.

Such attacks led to the collapse of an April ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

As Iran throttles traffic in Hormuz, its Houthi allies in Yemen have also declared a parallel maritime blockade on Saudi ports in the Red Sea, the oil-exporting giant’s only other maritime route.

A June deal between Washington and Tehran — meant to serve as a jumping-off point for negotiations on a permanent settlement — had said Iran and Oman would hash out future arrangements for the strait in discussion with other Gulf countries and “in line with the applicable international law”.

Before the war, Hormuz carried around a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG exports, and prices have repeatedly surged since the dispute over the waterway erupted, piling economic and political pressure on Washington.

Iran wants to control the strait and charge tolls, powers it did not exercise before the war and a development that the U.S. would fiercely oppose.

The closure of Hormuz has driven up prices for American voters, creating a political headache for Mr. Trump as November’s midterm elections near.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said this week that Washington’s top priority in the Iran war was keeping energy prices low for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon ranking second.

Tehran signalled last week that it had agreed with Oman a route for ships to transit the strait and were finalising arrangements to jointly manage the waterway.

The U.S. has imposed its own retaliatory blockade of Iranian ports in an attempt to cripple its economy.

“We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” Mr. Trump said to a cheering crowd of supporters on Friday (August 14).

Iran and Oman have reached an understanding ​on the geographic coordinates for a shipping ‌route through the Strait of Hormuz, ​and a joint announcement is ⁠being finalised, provided certain third parties did not interfere, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei ‌said on Wednesday (August 5, 2026).

Mr. Baghaei added that any such agreement between Iran and ‌Oman would not, by itself, guarantee ‌security ⁠in the strategic waterway.

West Asia war: Follow LIVE updates on August 5, 2026

The proposed deal ⁠between Iran and Oman would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the ​Strait of Hormuz, a ‌senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters on Wednesday (August 5, 2026), in one of the biggest concessions yet ‌to Iran.

Despite the apparent step towards ​yielding to Iranian demands, the sources pushed back against assertions by ⁠U.S. President Donald Trump that a deal reopening the strait was imminent, saying important ‌details still had to be agreed.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei described the negotiations between Tehran and Muscat as “professional” and “moving forward”, saying “the two sides had reached a mutual understanding on ‌the geographical parameters of the route under discussion”.

Mr. Baghaei ​added that, if some third parties do not obstruct the process, ⁠the joint statement between the two countries, containing ⁠the main considerations and key points of understanding, was in the ‌final stages of review and drafting.

Iran’s ambassador to China insisted on Saturday (July 4, 2026) that new fees would be charged to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz — an idea rejected by Washington — while assuring that “friendly” nations would receive special treatment.

West Asia war: Follow LIVE updates on July 5, 2026

The initial deal struck between Iran and the United States to end their war stipulated that commercial ships would transit the strait free of charge for 60 days, but it remains unclear what will be in place after that period.

Iranian Ambassador Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told the World Peace Forum in Beijing that his country was working in “collaboration and cooperation” with Oman on “new arrangements” for the vital waterway.

“As a country where the Hormuz is part of its territorial waters, we will definitely charge service fees,” Azli said in translated remarks, while insisting such fees would not be a “toll.”

“These new arrangements will be concerning guaranteeing the security of passage through the Straits of Hormuz, supervision of the passage of the vessels… and also guaranteeing and dealing with the environmental consequences of the massive number of ships,” he said.

“We will definitely consider special treatment for the countries that were friendly to us and specially stood by us during the hard times,” he added.

The strait normally carries one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas, but it was all but closed by Iran during the West Asia war, sending energy prices soaring.

Iran lifted its blockade of the Hormuz after it struck an initial deal with the U.S. to end the West Asia war, and negotiations on a permanent settlement of the conflict are ongoing.