The war with the United States and Israel has exposed unusually open divisions within Iran’s clerical establishment, with hardline calls for escalation clashing with warnings over the cost of continued conflict.
Iranian lawmakers say Israeli vessels will be permanently barred from the Strait of Hormuz and ships from the United States and its allies would be allowed through only if they pay war reparations, under a proposed plan to place the waterway under Iranian “management.”
Iran has begun curbing oil production as the US naval blockade tightens around its oil trade, with exports plunging, storage filling and tankers gathering near the country’s main export hub, Bloomberg reported.
The most important question in Tehran may also be the one least possible to answer with confidence: who is making decisions?
Iran’s leadership is hardening its stance on the Strait of Hormuz, framing the waterway as a strategic and non-negotiable asset amid rising tensions and US pressure.
Rising prices for essential goods, inflation above 73%, and a surging dollar amid a fragile “no war, no peace” environment, US naval pressure, and political divisions have heightened concerns among some officials about internal instability.
Dozens of residents in Tehran displaced by a 40-day war with the US and Israel said municipal authorities ordered them to vacate temporary hotel housing despite unsafe homes and limited aid, according to interviews published by Etemad newspaper on Thursday.
The next phase of the Iran–US standoff may be decided not on the battlefield, but by how much economic pressure each side can withstand.
Taliban leaders and affiliated figures voiced support for Iran after Israeli strikes in June 2025 and later US threats, signaling a limited and conditional alignment despite longstanding disputes with Tehran.
European airlines are facing their biggest test since the COVID-19 pandemic as the Iran war drives up jet fuel prices, disrupts Middle East routes and raises concerns about possible fuel shortages ahead of the summer holiday season.
Deep-rooted mistrust continues to stand in the way of any meaningful thaw between Iran and the United States despite renewed diplomacy after weeks of war.
Iran’s foreign trade has suffered a sharp contraction in the first month of war with the United States and Israel, newly released customs data show, signaling a severe blow to the country’s already fragile economy.
In Tehran, Abbas Araghchi’s whirlwind regional tour is being presented as evidence that Iran still has diplomatic options and regional leverage.
Amid Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the ensuing US blockade, an old energy fantasy has resurfaced that cutting off a country’s oil exports works like flipping a switch. But reality is less cinematic and far more uncomfortable.
Iran and the United States traded accusations at the United Nations on Monday over the Strait of Hormuz, as the archfoes’ weeks-long standoff over the strategic waterway continued to disrupt global energy supplies and world trade.
Recent tracking data suggesting Iran is still moving millions of barrels of crude despite a US naval blockade has raised fresh questions about the effectiveness of Washington’s effort to choke off Tehran’s oil exports.
As uncertainty clouds the next round of Iran-US talks, the economic pain of the war is mounting inside Iran and beyond, increasing pressure on both sides to find a way out.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said it had seized two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and directed them toward Iranian shores, hours after Donald Trump said the United States would extend a ceasefire with Iran.
IRGC-linked Tasnim has pointedly mapped the Persian Gulf’s undersea internet cables and cloud infrastructure in what appears to be a thinly veiled warning that the region’s digital backbone may now be in Iran’s line of fire.
Iran is facing severe shortages of key petrochemical products after recent strikes on its main production hubs, according to two informed sources inside the country.
The fragile truce between Tehran and Washington expires on April 22. With it ends restraint. Conflict will return, though its scale remains uncertain.
Iran said on Monday it had not yet decided whether to join a second round of talks with the United States, even as Pakistan prepared to host a US delegation, with Tehran accusing Washington of violating the ceasefire and showing no real seriousness about diplomacy.