US President Donald Trump attends the 2026 Patriot Games finals at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio.
Day 167 | Trump says US will “keep” Hormuz strait control
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States is in control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and will "keep it."
"The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, 'A WALL OF STEEL,' and there is nothing Iran can do about it."
Trump has repeatedly claimed the United States controls the strait, which is vital for the flow of energy and other commodity shipping through the Middle East.
However, Iran says it effectively controls much of the waterway and intends to impose a toll system in response to the US war launched by Trump on February 28.
Late Tuesday, Trump told reporters: "We have total control over the Hormuz Strait right now. They don't have control. We have total control. We own it."
US and ‘Israeli’ forces have heavily bombed Iran's military and killed a swath of the country's leadership so far in the nearly six month war, launched initially with goals including forcing Tehran to abandon its nuclear power program and leadership change.
Iran has resisted with missile attacks on US bases in the region, ‘Israel’ and targets in US-allied Gulf countries.
Its most effective response has been to strike shipping in Hormuz, effectively snarling the trade route, rattling the world economy.
With his political popularity sinking at home ahead of the November midterm congressional elections, Trump has backed off threats to escalate the war in search of a decisive victory.
That leaves the war in a standoff.
However, the Republican says that the United States is prepared to focus on blockading Iranian ports in a strategy that he told Axios was "low-keying."
"We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money," Trump told Axios on Sunday.
CIA was skeptical of ‘Israeli’ intel on Iranian plot that led to Trump switching planes: report
CIA analysts expressed skepticism over ‘Israeli’ intelligence on an Iranian assassination plot that prompted President Donald Trump to secretly switch planes while leaving Turkey last month, according to a Washington Post report citing current and former US officials.
‘Israel’ relayed the threat information to the CIA ahead of Trump’s July 8 departure from a NATO summit in Ankara.
Agency analysts did not find the intelligence compelling and conveyed their doubts to Trump administration officials.
One official described the reports as “Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence.”
Despite the skepticism, the Secret Service and White House proceeded with extraordinary precautions.
Trump publicly boarded the legacy Air Force One in view of cameras, then was covertly transferred via an airport catering truck to a smaller Air Force C-32A military aircraft that flew him and a small group of aides onward, effectively using the larger plane as a decoy.
“The Secret Service has had three near misses with this president, so they’re not taking any chances,” one official told the Post.
“They did what they had to do.” A former official added that the episode “fit a broader pattern of Israeli intelligence reporting that some officials see as designed as much to shape presidential decision-making as to inform it.”
Earlier reporting indicated the ‘Israeli’ information pointed to Iranian proxies discussing the use of shoulder-fired missiles against the presidential aircraft.
US officials later gathered additional intelligence but assessed the scheme as difficult to execute given security perimeters and a lack of confirmed evidence that the required weapons were in place in Ankara.
A constant stream of threats, the ongoing conflict with Iran, and the short timeline left little room for error, officials said.
Trump confirmed the plane change publicly, stating it was directed by the Secret Service.
“It’s really just up to Secret Service. I just follow what they like to do,” he told reporters.
“They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety. … I do what they say.”
VIDEO - Solidarity rally in Beirut for Lebanese detained in ‘Israel’
Lebanese women hold pictures of people detained in ‘Israel’ during a protest outside the ICRC headquarters in Beirut demanding their release.
"Around 22 Lebanese were detained from their workplaces, including workshops and farms, or from their homes. Another 11 or 12 were captured while fighting against the occupation," says one supporter.
Iranian cell with MANPADS triggered secret Trump plane switch in Turkey: report
A threat from an Iranian cell involving a shoulder-fired missile prompted US officials to use a decoy flight for President Donald Trump’s departure from a NATO summit in Turkey last month, according to officials cited by ABC News.
On July 8, as Trump prepared to leave Ankara after the NATO gathering, US intelligence—drawing from streams that included input involving the NSA, CIA, and Turkish services—detected what officials described as a credible, imminent plot.
Sources said someone had been spotted in the vicinity of the summit with a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile (a man-portable air-defense system, or MANPADS), and that Iranian operatives knew precise details of Trump’s location, including the specific floor of his hotel.
The Secret Service and military responded with an elaborate last-minute ruse.
Trump publicly boarded the familiar blue-and-white Air Force One (the older VC-25A) in view of cameras, then slipped out the other side into an elevated airport catering truck.
The truck transferred him and a small group of aides to a nearby, less conspicuous Air Force C-32A (a modified Boeing 757) flying under a routine military call sign with tracking systems darkened.
The presidential jet departed separately as a decoy, carrying senior officials, White House staff, and the traveling press corps who were largely unaware of the switch and were instructed to keep window shades closed.
Among those left on the decoy aircraft were Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who sources said was briefed), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House communications director Steven Cheung, and other aides.
Trump later reunited with the main aircraft for the final leg home after a stop in Britain. The operation remained secret for more than a month until reporting by The Washington Post first brought it to light this week.
Trump addressed the matter for the first time on Tuesday, confirming the switch while downplaying personal concern.
“I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane,” he told reporters.
“I just have to do what they say.”
He added: “I guess there was a threat out there. I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats.”
Pressed on why the switch left others on the higher-profile jet, Trump insisted the opposite: “I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk… because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”
He further remarked, “I don’t worry about anything, to be honest. Whatever it is, you know my attitude: ‘Whatever.’” and noted that “any consequential president has a lot of threats.”
Iran is “completely broke” from US sanctions and naval blockade: official to Bloomberg
Iran has been left “completely broke” due to the US sanctions and naval blockade, said an unidentified White House official to Bloomberg.
The official added that Trump still has “many levers” he can pull in the coming months against Iran, but gave no further details.
“They’re adapting”: Iran using course-changing missiles to overwhelm US air defenses
Iran has refined its missile tactics against US bases across the Middle East, using advanced weapons that can abruptly alter course to pierce American air defenses.
Recent attacks employed advanced missiles capable of suddenly changing course, which strained and depleted the bases’ defensive systems and forced American forces to expend scarce Patriot interceptors at a rapid rate, according to a report by The New York Times.
Iran has evolved into a more skilled adversary, learning to evade US air defenses while expanding the fight across much of the Middle East and coordinating with allies such as the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq.
At the same time, the Pentagon’s stockpile of interceptors has dwindled sharply, with more than 1,500 Patriot interceptors already expended and fewer than 1,700 remaining, according to people briefed on the numbers who spoke to the NYT.
Iranian officials have described rapid operational improvements under fire.
One official in Tehran told reporters that “the Americans themselves are the main reason behind the improvement of our missiles in recent days,” adding that crews now restore launch sites to operational status in under 30 minutes after earlier strikes that once required up to 15 hours.
Analysts note that systems such as the Kheibar Shekan, capable of terminal-phase maneuvers and last-minute trajectory changes, have featured in recent attacks on US assets.
These adaptations, combined with mixed drone-and-missile salvos designed to overwhelm radars, have increased penetration rates against depleted defenses even as overall launch volumes have fluctuated.
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Read more: Day 166 | US helicopter fired on ship that tried to break Iran ports blockade
