CENTCOM says regional officials discussed Strait of Hormuz commerce

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian defended his administration’s decision to allocate 20 million barrels of oil to the IRGC Aerospace Force, saying he would provide even more if similar circumstances arose again.

“If such conditions arise again, I would put not 20 million barrels, but 100 million barrels at their disposal,” Pezeshkian said, adding that he was proud of the support.

He thanked Iran’s armed forces, security forces, law enforcement and the Basij, saying his administration’s main concern was “the people and the military and security forces” and that defending the armed forces was his duty.

He also said he was ready to be on the “front line” and considered “martyrdom” an honor.

The United States and Iran reached an understanding to “keep things quiet” for the coming week so progress could be made on the Iran-US memorandum of understanding “without missiles flying,” Axios reported, citing a US official.

“We have reached an understanding that we will keep things quiet for the coming week, so progress on all aspects of the MOU can be worked on in a productive environment, without missiles flying,” Axios quoted the unnamed US official as saying.

“The President has been clear that every time they shoot, we will shoot more — and at targets that further degrade their position in the Strait,” the official added.

Two regional sources cited by Axios said meetings in Doha between Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Qatari officials went well and paved the way for technical talks between US and Iranian teams, Axios reported. It was unclear whether Witkoff and Kushner had any direct engagement with Iranian officials.

The main issues discussed in Doha were the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s frozen assets and the ceasefire in Lebanon, the sources said.

“The Gulf is currently in discussions about how the Strait should be managed after (the MOU expires) and those discussions are converging” with the US-Iran negotiations, a US official said.

“The US message to Iran was ‘Think bigger,’” a US official said, referring to efforts to persuade Tehran that a broader nuclear and regional deal would be more valuable than charging tolls in the strait.

The official said the sums Iran could generate from developing and selling oil and other resources freely, if US sanctions were lifted under a deal, “would be 100 times more valuable to them than using a gangster tactic to try and charge a toll.”

“We are pushing them to think bigger about their potential in the context of a broader nuclear and regional non-intervention deal,” the official said.

A source who spoke to President Donald Trump in recent days said he had been very frustrated by Iranian attacks in the strait last week, the report said. The source and another US official confirmed Trump had asked to be briefed on military options, but was eventually convinced to let negotiations play out.

Axios cited US officials as denying an Al-Arabiya report Wednesday that said the United States and Iran had reached an understanding in Doha on releasing the first tranche of frozen Iranian funds held in Qatar.

Axios cited the US officials as saying said no such understanding had been reached and no funds had been released.

A regional source confirmed the report to Axios, saying the $3 billion would not be transferred to Iran in cash but could be used by Iran’s central bank to buy humanitarian goods, at least some of which would come from the US market.

During the Doha talks, US negotiators told Iran they intended to continue restraining Israel and ensure it abides by the ceasefire in Lebanon, according to a regional source cited by Axios.

The source said the United States stressed that Israel’s withdrawal from two pilot zones in southern Lebanon was a first step and, if properly implemented, could lead to further withdrawals.

The US Navy said it was searching for a missing aircrew member after an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday.

US Naval Forces Central Command said there was “no indication” the incident was caused by hostile action.

Three of the helicopter’s four crew members were recovered and were in stable condition aboard the USS George H.W. Bush, the command said, adding that US Navy assets in the region were searching for the fourth crew member.

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington "has options" if Iran rebuilds its nuclear program, threatens its neighbors or supports terrorism.

“If the Iranians want to rebuild their nuclear program, the president has options,” Vance told troops at Naval Air Station Oceana on Wednesday.

"If the Iranians try to threaten their neighbors or fund terrorism, we've got options," he added.

Vance said that President Donald Trump was negotiating with Iran from a position of strength after the destruction of its nuclear and conventional military capabilities, while defending recent US strikes as targeted and justified.

“We dropped some bombs a couple of days ago. You know why? Because the Iranians were shooting at commercial ships,” Vance said. “So we dropped some bombs. We applied some leverage, and we've had free commercial transit for the last three days.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said Israel had twice carried out “proactive preemptive attacks” against Iran and would strike a third time if necessary.

“We crushed the nuclear program it was advancing and removed an existential threat from over the citizens of Israel,” Katz said.

“We thwarted its leaders, headed by (former Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei, who led the plan to destroy Israel,” he added.