US Iran tensions live updates: The Strait of Hormuz is a curved stretch of water roughly 33 kilometres (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point. It links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, allowing ships to move onward to global sea routes.

Iran and Oman both have territorial waters in the strait, yet it is treated as an international passage open for ships from all countries. The United Arab Emirates, which includes the skyline-filled city of Dubai, is also located close to this waterway.

Although Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pipelines that allow some shipments to bypass the route, the US Energy Information Administration states that “most volumes that transit the strait have no alternative means of exiting the region.”

Any threats to this route have pushed up global energy prices before, including during the Israel-Iran war in June.

US Iran tensions live updates: Oil held a decline after positive talks between the US and Iran over the OPEC member’s nuclear program, paring crude’s risk premium.

Global benchnmark Brent was little changed above $67 a barrel after ending almost 2% lower on Tuesday, while West Texas Intermediate was near $62. Tehran said it had reached a “general agreement” with Washington on the terms of a potential deal, while a US official said Iranian negotiators were scheduled to return to Geneva with a new proposal in two weeks.

(via Bloomberg)

US Iran tensions live updates: Ambassador Michael Waltz, the US representative to the United Nations said on Tuesday that Washington has made clear to Tehran the conditions for easing tensions over its nuclear program.

“Well, I’m not going to get ahead of the President or advertise his decision space, but the US has the greatest military in the world. We can project around the world, anytime, anywhere. Obviously, there has been a convergence of forces. But if the president decides to keep that posture for the foreseeable future, we have the capability,” Waltz said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt show.

“Step forward and step up to finally walk away from enrichment, walk away from long-range ballistic missiles, walk away from its terrorist proxies, and don’t slaughter your own people. These shouldn’t be anything near controversial for any reasonable government that seeks to get along with its neighbors and the international community,” he added further.

US Iran tensions live updates: Iran says it temporarily closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. The move came as semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported live fire exercises in the vital waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.

The move is a rare, perhaps unprecedented shutdown of the strait, a signal from Iran of the potential fallout to the world economy if the United States goes through with threats to attack it as tensions mount between the two countries.

In past times of tension and conflict, Iran has at times harassed shipping though the narrows, and during the 1980s’ Iran-Iraq war, both sides attacked tankers and other vessels, using naval mines to completely shut down traffic at points. But Iran has not carried out repeated threats to close the waterway altogether since the 1980s, even during last year’s 12-day war when Israel and the U.S. bombarded Iran’s key nuclear and military sites.

The extent and impact of Tuesday’s closure were not immediately known. Iranian media said it would be for several hours for “safety and maritime concerns.”

US Iran tensions updates: Amid escalating tensions with Iran, the United States has reportedly ordered the world’s largest aircraft carrier to be sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East, while President Donald Trump weighs military action against Iran as talks continue between Washington and Tehran.

USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and three guided-missile destroyers.

US Iran tensions live updates: Iran has announced the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday for live fire drills. This announcement comes in a rare show of force as its negotiators held another round of indirect talks with the United States over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme in Geneva.

This is the first time Iran announced the closure of the key international waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, since the US began threatening and rushing military assets to the Middle East.

US Iran tensions live updates: US Vice President JD Vance has claimed that Iran is not willing to acknowledge some of Trump’s “red lines”.

“In some ways it went well, they agreed to meet afterwards, but in other ways it was very clear that the President has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,” Vance told FOX News, adding that the US’ main goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“Our primary interest here is we don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. We don’t want nuclear proliferation. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, there are a lot of other regimes, some friendly, some not so friendly, who would get nuclear weapons after them. That would be a disaster for the American people,” he added.

US Iran tensions live updates: The US military has moved more fighter jets to the Middle East. Citing open source flight radar data and a US. official, Axios reported that more than 50 F-35, F-22 and F-16 fighter jets have moved to the region in the last 24 hours.

This deployment of fighter jets comes days after US President Donald Trump sent a second aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, to the Middle East.