📰 General · CBS News
Live Updates: Trump says U.S. will continue blockade after Iran says Strait of Hormuz "completely open" - CBS News
President Trump has welcomed Iran's announcement that, at least while the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire holds, the Strait of Hormuz is "completely open" to all ships.
What to know about the Iran war today:
- Iran's military announced Saturday that it has resumed control of the Strait of Hormuz. It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
- Two Iranian gunboats fired on a tanker in the strait, the British military said Saturday. India also confirmed two of its ships were targeted in attacks by Iran.
- "We're talking to them," President Trump said Saturday after Iran had shuttered the strait. "They wanted to close up the strait again, as they've been doing for years, and they can't blackmail us."
Macron blames Hezbollah for killing of French peacekeeper in Lebanon
A French soldier was killed and three others wounded in an ambush Saturday on United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon that French President Emmanuel Macron blamed on Hezbollah, an accusation the Iranian-backed militant group has denied.
"Everything points to Hezbollah being responsible for this attack," Macron said on X, urging Lebanese authorities to arrest the perpetrators.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack in a statement and said an initial assessment by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon found it was carried out by Hezbollah.
But Hezbollah denied involvement in the attack that killed the French peacekeeper, identified as Staff Sgt. Florian Montorio.
"Hezbollah denies any connection to the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh-Bint Jbeil area," it said in a statement.
The group urged "caution in making judgements and assigning responsibilities" pending the results of the Lebanese army's investigation into the incident.
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry issued a statement expressing its "strong condemnation and denunciation of the attack" that killed the French soldier, but stopped short of naming Hezbollah as being responsible.
The fighting in Lebanon has seen UNIFIL deployed there repeatedly targeted, by both Israeli and Hezbollah forces.
Montorio, was caught in an "ambush" as his unit headed to a UNIFIL outpost cut off by fighting and he died from a "direct gunshot," France's armed forces minister Catherine Vautrin said on X.
He is the second French soldier to die since the start of the war in the Middle East, after an Iranian-designed drone killed Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion last month in Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Strait of Hormuz "is under Iran's control," top Iranian politician reiterates after Iran fires on several ships
Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz is under Iranian control.
In a statement released late Saturday local time through Iran's semi-official Iranian Students News Agency, Ghalibaf said that "the Strait of Hormuz is under Iran's control."
"If America does not abandon the blockade, passage through the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be restricted," Ghalibaf said.
Ghalibaf also alleged that Iran had "decisively confronted" U.S. efforts to clear the strait of mines, calling it a violation of the two-week ceasefire.
This appeared to contradict a Truth Social post from President Trump Friday, in which he said that Iran, with the help of the U.S., "has removed, or is removing, all sea mines!"
The mines are believed to have been placed in the strait by Tehran's regime after the Iran war began on Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, Indian officials reported that two Indian-flagged ships were fired on in the strait Saturday, while the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre also said that two Iranian Revolutionary Guards gunboats fired on a tanker in the strait as well.
The UKMTO later added that a container ship was damaged in a strike in the strait about 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman, while a commercial vessel was also targeted in a strike three nautical miles east of Oman.
Hezbollah leader says truce can't be one-sided, vows to respond to Israel attacks
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Saturday that the ongoing 10-day truce with Israel cannot be one-sided, vowing that his fighters would respond to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
This article is republished through the USVI News affiliate desk. Reporting, analysis, and viewpoints are those of the original publisher and do not necessarily reflect USVI News.