Iran-US war latest: Trump dodges blame for rising prices as he makes fresh claim on peace talks

An oil tanker exploded and caught fire after colliding with mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s IRGC said, according to Fars, without saying when the incident occurred.

The seven-day rolling average of covert oil shipments accompanied by the US Navy through the Strait of Hormuz is rising and will continue to rise, Donald Trump’s energy secretary Chris Wright said at a meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday.

“The trend in that seven-day rolling average has been going up and will continue to go up,” he told a press conference, adding that a peak of 17 million barrels in one day he cited on Sept. 1 was in fact higher.

“There was one ship not counted. It turned out it was almost spot on 18 million barrels that day,” he claimed.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have ramped up attacks on Saudi Arabia and pushed west towards the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Being closer to the Red Sea will make it easier to launch strikes on Saudi oil tankers, which are reliant on the strait with the Strait of Hormuz out of action thanks to Iran.

Edmund Fitton-Brown, former British ambassador to Yemen, told The Independent that after months of attacks at sea, the Houthis “think the moment has come to call the Saudi bluff”.

“They think the Saudis have lost the stomach for the fight. They think that they showed themselves to be weak and frightened in the face of the Iranians,” he said.

“And the Houthis think that this is the moment where they can effectively raise their demands and get the Saudis to concede even more advantageous terms than they were previously willing to do.”

The risk for the Houthis, said Mr Fitton-Brown, is that the Saudis “seem inclined to fight back” – although so far their allies in Turkey, Pakistan and the United States are yet to join the cause.

US president Donald Trump has again dodged the blame for rising prices and claims they were caused by “Sleepy Joe Biden.”

He wrote in a post on Truth Social: “I hope everyone realizes that price increases throughout America were caused by Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, not by ‘TRUMP.’

“Even Oil was higher under Biden than it is right now, and we prevented Iran from having a Nuclear Weapon!

“With the temporary exception of Oil, prices are coming down sharply, and Oil will drop like a rock as soon as the Military Conflict with Iran is over, and that will not be long. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

It comes as oil and gas prices have climbed higher after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline in response to a series of drone attacks.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil was up by around 3% to 108 US dollars (£80) on Monday morning.

In a previous post he claimed the world’s Diesel prices have risen mostly due to the war between Russia and Ukraine and not due to war in Iran.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have forced a lightning offensive to the Red Sea coast, assuming control over another vital waterway in the region and threatening to expand the frozen US-Israeli conflict with Iran to the east.

By securing a position overlooking the narrow Bab el-Mandeb strait, the Iran-aligned group has opened a second pressure point, further squeezing Saudi Arabia’s oil exports already diverted from the Strait of Hormuz.

The sudden land grab over the last week has been accompanied by an aerial campaign against military installments in southern Saudi Arabia, shifting the balance of power after more than a decade at war.

The Independent looks at what the Houthi advance means for regional stability:

The American air force colonel whose fighter jet was downed over Iran in April has shared how survived for two days behind enemy lines with a broken back, arm and shoulder while waiting for help to arrive.

‘Bravo’ was the weapons-system officer in a two-man crew flying over Iran on 3 April when their F-15E Strike Eagle was hit by Iranian fire. The pilot in the front – ‘Alpha’ – ejected successfully, but Bravo came down in the mountains.

In his first public account of what happened, he told CBS News’ 60 Minutes how he free-fell to the ground at speeds of up to 100mph with a damaged parachute, torn up by an Iranian shoulder-fired missile.

US President Donald Trump has said the US is open to starting negotiations with Iran again.

In a post on Truth Social he said: “The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage – The concept of which we are open to. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

US president Donald Trump has claimed the world’s Diesel prices have risen mostly due to the war between Russia and Ukraine and not due to war in Iran.

In a post on Truth Social he wrote: “Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise! The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran.”

It comes as oil and gas prices have climbed higher after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline in response to a series of drone attacks.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil was up by around 3% to 108 US dollars (£80) on Monday morning.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering the Iranian-backed rebels’ ability to control a key maritime shipping route.

Meanwhile, Iran says Saudi Arabia was behind Oman’s decision to postpone a meeting bringing together Iran with other regional countries to discuss the Strait of Hormuz.

Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East: