US-Iran war live updates: Trump reinstates blockade on Strait of Hormuz, backs away from 20 per cent fee as US launches wave of new attacks on Iran

Thank you for joining our live coverage as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to return to full-scale war. Here is what you need to know.

• A US blockade on vessels accessing Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz recommences at 6am Wednesday AEST, Central Command said.
• President Donald Trump has backed away from his proposed 20 per cent fee on cargo for ships passing through the strait, saying that Middle Eastern countries will instead make investment and trade deals with the US.
• US forces have carried out additional strikes on military targets in Iran to eliminate “emerging threats,” a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The US earlier carried out a large wave of attacks against coastal defence systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities in locations across Iran, including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas, the US military said.
• Iran responded to the earlier strikes with its own attacks targeting Bahrain and Jordan, as well as two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates travelling through the strait, killing an Indian sailor and wounding eight others.

US forces carried out additional strikes on military targets in Iran earlier on Tuesday to eliminate “emerging threats,” a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official declined to offer further details except to say that there were only a few additional strikes. The US carried out a large wave of attacks on July 13 against coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities in locations across Iran, including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas, the US military said.

Reuters

US President Donald Trump stepped back from a proposal to charge a 20 per cent fee to guard the Strait of Hormuz as part of the conflict with Iran, saying he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states.

“Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,“ he said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, US time (1am Wednesday AEST).

Trump said he was called by “kings and emirs” and other leaders who suggested an alternate arrangement.

“They said we’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Trump said he preferred that arrangement to charging tolls “because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait”.

Reuters/AP

Thank you for joining our live coverage as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to return to full-scale war. Here is what you need to know.

• A US blockade on vessels accessing Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz recommences at 6am Wednesday AEST, Central Command said.
• President Donald Trump has backed away from his proposed 20 per cent fee on cargo for ships passing through the strait, saying that Middle Eastern countries will instead make investment and trade deals with the US.
• US forces have carried out additional strikes on military targets in Iran to eliminate “emerging threats,” a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The US earlier carried out a large wave of attacks against coastal defence systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities in locations across Iran, including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas, the US military said.
• Iran responded to the earlier strikes with its own attacks targeting Bahrain and Jordan, as well as two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates travelling through the strait, killing an Indian sailor and wounding eight others.