On 26 September 2026, positions around the Strait of Hormuz escalated as U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his country is achieving a 'big victory' and 'fully' controlling the Strait, that oil is flowing through it and 29 ships left it yesterday, and that the blockade on Iran is succeeding. U.S. sources told Al-Arabiya that Trump leans toward carrying out airstrikes on Iran after the elections while tightening the blockade. In response, the spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces affirmed Iran's readiness, and Iran insisted on closing the Strait of Hormuz and rejected any nuclear concessions, while Washington asserts that Iranian forces do not control the Strait, with its forces deployed around it and its blockade of Iranian ports.
On the diplomatic track, Axios quoted a U.S. official as saying that talks between Washington and Tehran are continuing through mediators and described them as positive and constructive. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS that the Supreme Leader supports the proposal Iran presented to the United States, affirming Tehran's readiness to fulfill its obligations if Washington agrees, that Qatar and Pakistan are currently mediating and conveying Tehran's messages to Washington, that he met the Supreme Leader twice, and stressing a loss of trust in talks with Washington due to repeated attacks and sanctions after every negotiation. However, Trump affirmed that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon, rejected an Iranian proposal, and accused Tehran of closing the Strait of Hormuz and putting itself in a bind. U.S. sources quoted him as telling the negotiating team that there can be no agreement without an Iranian first move, and that economic pressure is more useful than an agreement on Iranian terms.
Economically and in aviation, Washington expanded its campaign to choke Tehran, covering aviation, banks and trade. U.S. Treasury official Jonathan Berk led a tour of several countries to convey the message of choosing between continuing dealings with Tehran or facing U.S. sanctions, according to The Wall Street Journal. Measures included Oman banning Mahan Air flights and then all Iranian companies, the UAE preventing branches of Bank Melli Iran and Iranian airline flights, Turkey canceling Mahan Air flights and revoking Bank Mellat's license, and measures in Azerbaijan and Georgia. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the United States asked Britain not to renew the license of Iran's Bank Melli in London. In this context, Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretariat denied any intention to respond militarily to the recent aviation restrictions, affirming that Tehran is taking a negotiating path to lift them while keeping non-military reciprocal options open if necessary.
Regionally and internationally, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei accused European states of participating in attacks on Iran, citing NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's remarks, which he considered an admission of a direct European role in the war, noting the need to study the role of European states in supporting the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, taking into account rising fuel prices, and that Rutte mentioned 5,000 sorties from bases in Europe after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February. France is moving diplomatically in the Security Council to prepare a draft resolution stressing the need to respect freedom of navigation and the law of the sea in the Strait of Hormuz, amid a war linked to Iran that has paralyzed shipping in the Strait since February. Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the file on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and Tehran proposed a 7-day plan to stop the conflict.