In The Gulf of Oman — A Shot Across the Bow, and Then Into the Engine Room

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(Photo by AFP via Getty Images) /

In every confrontation between nations, there is a moment when words stop working. The radio crackles. A warning is issued. Then another. Then another. And at some point, when the ship on the other end keeps moving, and the crew keeps silent, the decision passes from the diplomats to the gunners. That moment came Sunday in the Gulf of Oman. For six hours, the USS Spruance — a guided-missile destroyer named for an admiral who understood the cost of restraint — shadowed an Iranian-flagged cargo ship called the Touska as it churned toward the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. The

Open Water, Closed Fist: Trump Keeps Blockade as Iran Claims Strait is Open

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(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The world’s most critical oil chokepoint is back open — but Washington is keeping the screws on Tehran. President Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi both announced Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is now open for commercial shipping, easing fears of a global energy shock after days of war-driven turmoil. “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open,” Araghchi wrote on X. Trump quickly claimed the bigger win. “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again,” the president posted on TRUTH Social.

Four Weeks of Bombing, 36 Hours of Blockade — and Iran’s Economy Goes Dark

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(Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Trump’s quieter weapon is doing the loudest work. There is a subtle, quiet kind of power. That is the power President Trump described Thursday, standing on the South Lawn before boarding Marine One for Las Vegas, and it is worth listening to what he said. “We have a very good relationship with Iran right now,” the president told reporters. “As hard as it is to believe, and I think it’s a combination of about four weeks of bombing and a very powerful blockade.” Then came the line that deserves to travel. “The blockade is maybe more powerful than the bombing,

For Trump and Xi, the Correspondence That Could Shape the Coming Meeting

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(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

There are moments in diplomacy conducted through letters and TRUTH Social posts that nonetheless carry genuine weight. This may be one of them. President Trump disclosed Wednesday that he had written directly to Chinese President Xi Jinping, warning him against supplying weapons to Iran, and that Xi wrote back to say he was doing no such thing. “I had heard that China is giving weapons to Iran,” Trump told Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria. “And I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying that essentially he’s not doing that.” 🚨

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