Iranian navy turned back US tanker in Strait of Hormuz - report

Former US official Victoria Coates said on Fox News on Wednesday that expanding the Abraham Accords remains part of President Donald Trump’s vision for Middle East peace, arguing that regional countries are seeing benefits from the agreements and should be encouraged to join.

Coates, who served as Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa in the first Trump administration, said pressure is increasing on Iran through economic strain and sanctions, adding that Tehran is “losing money every day” and facing growing pressure over its nuclear program, while describing recent changes to internet access in Iran as a “sign of desperation.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said on Wednesday that hostile foreign governments may increase efforts to “bully, silence, and even assassinate” individuals on US soil during the FIFA World Cup, describing such actions as transnational repression.

Patel said the FBI maintains a nationwide network of counterintelligence task forces across its 56 field offices and urged the public to report suspicious activity, as millions of visitors are expected in the United States over the next two months.

US Representative Joe Wilson said on Wednesday Iran sanctions laws passed by Congress, mandate sanctions on countries providing support to what he described as the “terrorist regime in Iran."

"Iran sanctions laws passed by Congress including CAATSA and CISADA mandate sanctions on countries providing support to the terrorist regime in Iran," he posted on X. "Georgian Nightmare is freaking out about the report because they know what they did in supporting the terrorists in Iran and how they are gambling with their own country’s future."

Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka said on Wednesday that the Czech Republic, a landlocked NATO member with no navy, is prepared to support the Trump administration’s effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz by offering “unique passive surveillance capabilities” to counter what he described as Iran’s growing threat to the strategic waterway, Fox News reported.

“Prague has already begun discussions on contributing specialized assets to ensure freedom of navigation,” he said, describing Iran as a four-pronged global threat, including nuclear proliferation, drones and ballistic missiles, international terrorism, and the Strait of Hormuz itself.

Deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Bagheri Kani said on Wednesday Tehran is not prepared to negotiate over its stockpile of enriched uranium, adding that shipping procedures in the Strait of Hormuz will change following recent regional conflict.

“Until we reach an agreement on all issues, we believe we have reached no agreement on anything,” official media cited him as saying, adding that indirect contacts between Iran and the United States continue and that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is not on the negotiating agenda.

“Iran and Oman, as neighboring coastal states, are jointly negotiating a new mechanism for the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” Bagheri said. “The conditions and procedures for passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be completely different from the conditions before the start of the conflict involving Iran.”