Live updates: Iran war news; Trump says US delegation heading to Pakistan for talks, Strait of Hormuz traffic halts

Iran war: Trump dispatches Pakistan envoy as Hormuz oil traffic stops

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that a senior US delegation will travel to Islamabad for urgent talks after Tehran warned of wider strikes.

The White House move came hours after commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz all but ceased and Pakistan confirmed it had refused US requests for military overflight rights toward Iran.

The choke-point closure halts roughly 20 percent of daily global oil flows and sent Brent crude surging above $95 a barrel, its highest level since September 2023.

Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from a campaign rally in Ohio. “We’re sending a team tonight. They’ll meet General Asim and Prime Minister Shehbaz. We need clarity,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s army chief and premier. The president offered no itinerary or names for the delegation.

Pakistan’s foreign office later confirmed receiving “a formal request for dialogue” and said the visit would begin Wednesday morning. Spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stressed that no new basing rights were on the table. “Pakistan’s position on regional neutrality remains unchanged,” she told reporters in Islamabad.

The diplomatic scramble follows two weeks of direct fire between Iran and the United States. Tehran struck US bases in Syria and Iraq after Washington bombed facilities used by Iranian-linked groups in retaliation for a drone attack that killed 3 American soldiers near the Jordanian border. The administration blamed Tehran for arming the militias; Tehran denied directing the strike.

Oil markets seized up overnight after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations authority reported “don’t-sail” advisories from at least 4 merchant masters. Lloyd’s List Intelligence showed only 2 tankers, both flagged by Iran, inside the 55-kilometer strait at 08:00 GMT. Typical traffic for that hour is 27 vessels.

Benchmark Brent gained 4 percent to $95.20 while West Texas Intermediate touched $90.40. Energy Aspects analyst Richard Bronze said markets now price in a “minimum 10-day disruption” that “cuts 12 million barrels a day from supply lines.” Japan and South Korea announced immediate releases of strategic reserves.

Shipping group Maersk told customers it had suspended all Hormuz transits indefinitely and would reroute Asia-Europe cargo around the Cape of Good Hope, adding 14 sailing days. Air freight rates from Dubai to Europe doubled overnight amid scarce belly-hold space, freight forwarder Flexport said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy issued a statement warning regional states against “co-operation with aggressor forces,” after US Fifth Fleet vessels began escorting two reflagged Kuwaiti tankers Monday. Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said Tehran retains the right to stop vessels “violating maritime regulations,” though he stopped short of declaring a formal blockade.

Riyadh called for an “immediate de-escalation.” Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman promised “all necessary steps” to keep export volumes steady through the kingdom’s Red Sea terminals but gave no figures. Iraq’s oil ministry said southern ports are operating normally yet diverted 300,000 barrels a day originally scheduled for the strait to its Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey.

Inside Iran, state television broadcast new footage of missile depots and drone launchers as part of what it called the “Martyr Soleimani” exercise. The broadcast, aired Monday evening, showed mobile launchers rolling through desert terrain as commanders vowed to “teach aggressors unforgettable lessons.” Iran’s armed forces chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said exercises will continue for 5 days.

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh declined to say whether US carriers had altered course. “We retain the capability to defend ourselves and our partners anywhere,” she told reporters. Asked if Washington had requested Pakistani airspace, Singh repeated the phrase “diplomatic channels are open” three times without elaborating.

European diplomats huddled in Brussels after France, Germany and Italy jointly urged “maximum restraint.” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ministers would consider fresh sanctions on Iran’s drone program but conceded talks are “divided” after Hungary signalled opposition. “We need unanimity,” she told reporters emerging from a closed-door session.

China’s foreign ministry called Hormuz “a vital artery” and warned against “any unilateral military adventure.” Spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing backs a Persian Gulf free of “external interference” and urged revival of the dormant 2015 nuclear deal. China imports roughly 9 percent of its crude via the strait and has kept the yuan-denominated futures price of Middle East sour grade flat at 528 yuan a barrel.

India, which relies on the route for 80 percent of imported crude, asked refiners to cut throughput by 10 percent and rotate to US, Nigerian and Russian barrels that sail around the Cape. State-run Bharat Petroleum has already booked 2 million barrels of Russian ESPO loading at Kozmino this week, traders told GlobalBeat.

Background

Iran and Pakistan share a 959-kilometre border that cuts across Balochistan and has long been a conduit for smuggling, militancy and refugee flows. Relations soured in January 2024 when Tehran and Islamabad traded cross-border missile strikes against alleged Baloch separatist camps, each accusing the other of harboring militants. The flare-up lasted 48 hours before both sides agreed to “de-confliction channels” and a security hotline.

The United States has historically relied on Pakistani air corridors during Middle East crises. In 1991 and again in 2003, Islamabad quietly granted overflight rights for US sorties against Iraq. After the 2011 bin Laden raid, ties nosedived and the routes were closed to armed drones, though cargo flights supporting the Afghan war continued until the 2021 Taliban takeover.

What’s Next

Pakistan’s foreign office said the US delegation will hold “technical and ministerial level talks” on Wednesday and Thursday. Analysts expect Washington to renew requests for intelligence-sharing and refuelling stop-overs, while Islamabad will seek guarantees on IMF lending and textile tariff relief. Any formal agreement would require parliamentary approval in Pakistan, where the ruling coalition controls only a slim majority.

Oil traders will watch satellite imagery of Hormuz tanker queues and a Thursday meeting in Vienna of the OPEC+ monitoring committee that could adjust output quotas. If the strait remains closed past 10 days, energy consultancy FGE predicts global inventories will fall by 55 million barrels and push Brent toward $110.