US energy secretary says Hormuz oil flows average nearly 13 million barrels a day

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that oil prices would fall sharply once the war ends, predicting the conflict would be over soon and pointing to increased oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Oil is going to come plummeting down and oil prices are coming down,” Trump told reporters as he boarded Marine One for Medinah, Illinois.

Trump said a record amount of oil had moved through the Strait of Hormuz overnight, exceeding levels before the war.

“Last night, we took a record amount of oil out of the Hormuz Strait, more than we took out before the war,” Trump said.

Trump also cited employment, income and poverty figures as evidence of the strength of the US economy, saying more Americans were working and individual incomes were higher than ever.

British police arrested five men Sunday on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act at an airbase used by the US Air Force, with counter-terrorism officers leading the investigation into what happened.

The five were also arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, police said.

Police advised residents of 85 households to evacuate as the investigation continued.

The Strait of Hormuz has become a powerful tool for Iran to counter what it views as US maritime pressure, an adviser to Iran’s leader, Yahya Rahim Safavi, said Sunday.

“The Strait of Hormuz has become a weapon more dangerous than a nuclear weapon,” Safavi said.

Only five to eight ships are now passing through the strait, Safavi said, adding that Persian Gulf states are facing problems with energy production and exports.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that US President Donald Trump “will dream of wiping out, destroying and overthrowing Iran,” adding that Iranians would overcome “all obstacles.”

Pezeshkian said the US and Israel had expected attacks across Iran to cause the Islamic Republic to collapse from within, but the strikes had instead made Iranians “more determined than before.”

Iranian armed forces targeted 19 vessels described as “violators” in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday and Saturday, the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

Seven vessels were targeted Saturday evening after 12 were targeted Friday evening, Fars reported.

The agency also cited local reports saying several Iranian cruise missiles and attack drones had been launched toward commercial vessels south of the strait in recent hours.

The US has yet to respond to the Guards’ latest assertion.
The announcement follows similar Iranian assertions involving US unmanned vessels. CENTCOM previously confirmed losing a Dive-LD underwater drone but said it had malfunctioned before Iran recovered it, while US officials denied an Iranian account that an American Saildrone had been captured.

Iranian lawmaker Gholamreza Mirzaei called on parliament to reconsider the country’s membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, asking whether the time had come for Iran to withdraw.

“Why should we not reconsider NPT membership under the current circumstances? Has the time not come to withdraw from the NPT? We have a war ahead of us and must not be defeated by the enemy,” Mirzaei told parliament’s ICANA news agency on Sunday.

Iran needs stronger air defenses and should revise its defensive doctrine in response to threats from its adversaries, Mirzaei added.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said on Sunday it seized an advanced US military underwater vehicle operating in the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC identified the vessel as a REMUS 600 autonomous underwater vehicle and said its specialists were working to recover data from it.

The Revolutionary Guards Navy also said the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and that it is taking action against what it described as dangerous movements and passage through unauthorized routes.

Iran remains determined to resist US and Israeli pressure and will not give up its rights and interests under pressure or threats, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported, citing a source close to Iran’s negotiating team.

Iran’s latest proposal to the United States included “a series of reciprocal and phased measures,” the source said after US President Donald Trump said he had rejected Tehran’s offer.

US President Donald Trump’s rejection of Iran’s proposal for a swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz may say less about Washington’s opposition to a deal than about its changing assessment of Tehran’s most important bargaining chip.

Trump publicly rejected the proposal on Saturday. The plan would have reopened the strait within seven days and resumed nuclear negotiations in return for measures including lifting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The president plainly wants normal shipping restored, but he appears unwilling to pay the price Tehran is asking for it.

Iranian officials have repeatedly described Hormuz as a strategic asset and a source of leverage. Disruption of the narrow waterway affects energy markets, shipping costs and inflation far beyond the region.

That importance has not disappeared. What may be changing is Iran’s ability to convert that disruption into immediate political concessions from Washington.

The US military has spent months trying to reduce Iran’s ability to attack shipping while expanding escorts for commercial vessels. CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said last week that US forces had facilitated the transit of more than 2,000 commercial vessels and more than one billion barrels of crude oil through the strait.

The operation has not restored normal shipping, but it has allowed substantial volumes of oil to move without an agreement with Tehran, helping Washington turn Hormuz from an Iranian energy veto into what it increasingly appears to regard as a manageable risk.

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Relatives of protesters killed during Iran’s January crackdown challenged President Masoud Pezeshkian’s portrayal of the unrest as foreign-driven, saying their family members were unarmed and had no links to foreign governments, after his UN General Assembly address on Wednesday.

Pezeshkian accused protesters of being incited by the United States and Israel and receiving weapons to disrupt Iran’s security. He also defended system supporters who took to the streets during the unrest.

The sisters of Sina Kazemi, Emad Mavedatipour and Babak Sadeghi Mohseni responded on X, saying their brothers were unarmed when they were killed on January 8 or 9 and were not acting on behalf of any foreign government.

“I testify that my brother was unarmed when he was killed by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s forces on January 8, 2026,” Kazemi’s sister wrote. “He was not acting on behalf of any foreign government. I seek truth, justice, and accountability.”

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