Sarah: Iran has put a public price on Hormuz—and the blockade numbers are still climbing.
Sarah: If you're just joining us: the Hormuz crisis is moving on two tracks at once.
Sarah: Iranian attacks on shipping and a U.S.
Sarah: blockade have disrupted commercial traffic, while negotiators explore separate routes through Iranian and Omani waters.
Sarah: Until now CENTCOM had said 44 vessels were redirected
Sarah: while Tehran pressed for transit fees
Sarah: sanctions relief security guarantees
Sarah: and an end to the blockade.
Rich: This is Iran War Daily.
Rich: Tehran has named its asking price.
Rich: Now we find out whether ships, insurers, and the region can live with the bill.
Rich: If this story matters to you — Hormuz-to-Red Sea maritime escalation — hit follow.
Rich: We'll be back on it soon.
Sarah: This one's from The National:
Quote: Iran is looking to further exploit the situation in the Strait of Hormuz by seeking sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to toll-free
Quote: passage in the strategic waterway
Quote: sources told The National on Thursday.
Quote: The US, Iran and other countries are reportedly in the final stages of discussions over navigation in the strait.
Quote: Iran has been attacking shipping in the waterway in an attempt to create leverage during the peace talks mediated by Pakistan
Quote: Qatar and others.
Sarah: The National's sources put a specific Iranian demand on the table: toll-free Hormuz passage in exchange for immediate sanctions relief.
Sarah: The talks may have an understanding on entry and exit routes, but they still fall short of a broader U.S.-Iran peace deal.
Rich: There it is—the invoice.
Rich: Iran attacks shipping, then offers a route back if sanctions come off.
Rich: Insurers still need to know who guarantees a tanker gets through safely.
Sarah: Pakistan, Qatar, and Oman are all working separate diplomatic channels.
Sarah: One source describes a temporary Oman arrangement first, then renewed U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Sarah: Pakistan has publicly tied a strait agreement to restarting technical talks.
Rich: “Final stages” is a phrase negotiators love because it sounds like arrival without committing to a destination.
Rich: After that, sanctions compliance, verification, and the nuclear file are all still waiting.
Sarah: From IranWire:
Quote: U.S.
Quote: Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that American forces have forced 48 commercial vessels to alter their course since the resumption of the
Quote: naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Quote: Additionally, two ships were disabled and two others were seized.
Sarah: CENTCOM’s August 5 update on X puts the count at 48 diverted commercial vessels—up from the 44 we aired—plus two disabled and two seized.
Sarah: Those are CENTCOM’s figures, but the change is clear: four more diversions in roughly two days.
Rich: Tehran is asking for sanctions relief to allow toll-free passage, and the U.S.
Rich: blockade count is still climbing.
Rich: Forty-eight rerouted ships is the number insurers will price, not the word “understanding.”
Sarah: IranWire says the blockade resumed under President Trump’s July 14 order after the temporary ceasefire expired.
Sarah: CENTCOM also released an F-16 refuelling image, a reminder that enforcing this blockade takes sustained U.S.
Sarah: air operations over regional waters.
Rich: Two disabled. Two seized.
Rich: That’s eight ships beyond a simple reroute problem, and it makes every word spoken around Hormuz more expensive.
Sarah: From The Guardian:
Quote: An Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon killed one person and injured 11
Quote: the Lebanese ministry of health said
Quote: in one of Israel’s deadliest bombings since the start of the June ceasefire.
Quote: Israel carried out an airstrike in the town of Tebnine, hitting a cemetery, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Rich: As Tehran negotiates a price for Hormuz, southern Lebanon is being pulled in the other direction.
Rich: The Lebanese health ministry says Israel hit Tebnine’s cemetery: one dead, 11 hurt, and families fled al-Mansouri.
Sarah: Israel said it gave a displacement order roughly 30 minutes beforehand and was striking Hezbollah infrastructure over alleged ceasefire
Sarah: violations. The Guardian reports it was Israel’s first such evacuation order since the June ceasefire began.
Rich: Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded in an explosion in south Lebanon the day before, and the origin is still unknown.
Rich: So be careful about drawing a clean cause-and-effect line here—but the ceasefire is plainly under severe strain.
Sarah: The immediate facts are clearer than the broader trigger.
Sarah: Lebanese authorities report casualties and displacement; Israel says Hezbollah violated the ceasefire.
Sarah: A cemetery strike and a renewed displacement order raise the stakes, whatever account ultimately bears out.
Sarah: From CNN:
Quote: Iran was ready to attack three sites in Ukraine over a claimed strike on one of its commercial vessels in the Caspian Sea in late July
Quote: a top military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Monday
Quote: Iran’s state-linked Press TV reported.
Quote: “We were ready to attack three areas in Ukraine,” Mohsen Rezaei said in an interview with Iranian state television.
Sarah: A separate CNN item matters here: Mohsen Rezaei
Sarah: a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader
Sarah: told state-linked Press TV that Iran had prepared strikes on three sites in Ukraine
Sarah: then paused after Kyiv called the Caspian incident a mistake.
Rich: “Prepared strikes” is still a claim from Iranian state television
Rich: but it’s a reminder of how quickly a commercial-shipping dispute can turn into a target list.
Sarah: Rezaei also said Tehran was focused on Oman-mediated Hormuz negotiations, not talks with Washington.
Sarah: That’s Iran’s public line.
Sarah: Keep it separate from the sanctions-relief demand we just covered.
Rich: Oman gets described as the diplomatic lane, while Iran signals it can open another lane toward Ukraine.
Rich: Very calming architecture.
Rich: Iran is asking for sanctions relief while also seeking toll-free—or at least guaranteed—passage through Hormuz.
Rich: What would a deal shipping companies could actually use have to contain beyond another political announcement that the strait is open?
Sarah: Start with the basic conflict.
Sarah: Iran has sought transit fees
Sarah: reportedly 5% to 7% of a cargo’s value
Sarah: while AP says collecting tolls in the strait conflicts with the established principle of peaceful navigation.
Sarah: Then there’s the financial side.
Sarah: Treasury’s OFAC warned that payments or guarantees Iran seeks for safe passage can create sanctions risk for U.S.
Sarah: and non-U.S. persons, whether the payment comes in cash, digital assets, swaps, or even purported charitable donations.
Sarah: Reuters also reported that a new war-risk insurance clause would terminate coverage for vessels that pay Hormuz transit fees, and that U.S.
Sarah: sanctions on Iran’s strait authority create further compliance problems.
Sarah: Any reopening deal would need to let shipowners
Sarah: cargo owners banks and insurers operate without making a prohibited payment or losing insurance.
Sarah: It would also need a clearly observed end to threats and attacks.
Sarah: One analysis put it this way: ships have been deterred rather than physically blocked
Sarah: and the morning after a ceasefire announcement
Sarah: most vessels waiting in the Gulf still did not move.
Sarah: A declaration matters only if commercial traffic resumes under conditions insurers and operators judge safe enough to accept.
Rich: But if Tehran simply says ships are safe, how do companies tell a credible guarantee from a promise that unravels after the first transit?
Sarah: They’ll look for behavior they can observe: sustained
Sarah: normal vessel movement and insurance that stays valid
Sarah: rather than a few isolated transits or a diplomatic statement.
Sarah: AP reported that even after a tentative reopening agreement, oil flows could take weeks or months to fully recover.
Sarah: Al Jazeera found traffic still hadn’t picked up four days after a preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement.
Sarah: For commercial operators, the strait is reopened when they decide the risk is manageable.
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Host: Links to every story we covered today are in the show notes.
Host: If one caught your attention, take a moment to read the full piece and dig into the reporting behind it.
Host: That’s Iran War Daily for today.
Host: This is a Lantern Podcast.