'IRGC is decimated and fleeing': Trump says US blockade has full control of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz and suggested Washington could keep control of the key waterway.

"The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, "A WALL OF STEEL," and there is nothing Iran can do about it."

Trump, who several reports suggest is looking for an off-ramp, reiterated his claim that Iran has no Navy, no Air Force, "their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their 'Leadership' is uncertain, at best! They have No Money - Their country is 'shot'."

"All they have is FAKE NEWS and 300% INFLATION, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer. Praise be to Allah," the US President posted.

The comments came as diplomatic efforts continued through intermediaries to reach a deal to reopen Hormuz.

Tehran has toughened its position and put six conditions before Washington for reopening the strait.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said on Tuesday that Hormuz would remain closed until the US changes its behaviour and accepts Iran's conditions, according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Rezaei said Washington must end the war and unfreeze Iranian funds held overseas. He said other conditions had been conveyed to the US through mediators.

Pakistan Pushes For Talks

Pakistan is also trying to revive stalled US-Iran peace efforts.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Wednesday.

Pakistan had signed an interim agreement as a guarantor, but the deal fell apart after tensions escalated and the US and Iran resumed military strikes.

A diplomatic source told Dawn that Naqvi's main objective was to follow up on the June MoU between the US and Iran. The agreement was meant to create a 60-day window for high-level talks aimed at restoring peace.

Pakistan's efforts have so far failed to produce a breakthrough. 

Iran has said it is close to a separate agreement with Oman to manage the strait, which lies between the two countries and is crucial to global energy supplies.

Deadly Attack Near Bab El-Mandeb

The tensions have also spilled into other key shipping routes.

Yemeni authorities said six people were killed when Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

Yemen's coast guard said four crew members and two members of the government-allied National Resistance Forces were killed.

The Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the Yemeni commercial vessel, according to the Transportation Ministry of Yemen's internationally recognised government.

The deaths are the first known fatalities from Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen in the latest bout of fighting.

Meanwhile, US forces also fired on a ship that they said was trying to break the American blockade of Iranian ports.