Meanwhile, to the Middle East, President Trump telling Iran this is their last chance to make a deal before the United States carries out a far more punishing military operation. >> Chief foreign correspondent Trey Yinx is live in Tel Aviv with the latest. Good morning, Trey. >> Yeah. Hey guys, good morning.
While the Trump administration explores a diplomatic solution with Iran, the IRGC is continuing attacks in the Gulf. Overnight, a cargo ship off the coast of Oman was hit with an unknown projectile according to maritime tracking groups. The incident comes as the US naval blockade remains in effect. Sentcom says that as of August 3rd, they have redirected 44 commercial vessels and disabled two others. >> Captain, you are requested to alter course to 190.
If you do not comply, we will compel compliance with force. This is warship 45. We will monitor your course for compliance at this time. Warship 45 standing by on 16. >> President Trump posted a true social on Monday saying in part, “Nothing gets through to Iran unless we want it to and nothing will get through unless a deal or total surrender is accomplished.
Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are in fact talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused.” The president described the state of play with Iran yesterday from the Oval Office. >> Mr. President, are the talks with Iran now off and our air strikes? >> No, they’re on.
They’re going on right now. It’s an amazing thing. We have a little problem with Iran because we have many talks and we’ll say we have or we don’t have, you know, we’re straight about it, but they deny, but they’re not denying it now. Is this the last chance? This is not something that if it doesn’t happen, this is a last chance for them to sign a good document.
Reports indicate Iran and Oman are nearing a deal regarding control of the straight of Hormuz and splitting service fees between them. It’s not clear if the terms would be acceptable to the Trump administration that has maintained zero fees should be charged in this international waterway. There are uncertain days ahead in the region as the Middle East waits to see if a deal will be reached or we’ll see a return to war. guys. So, so Trey, real quickly, the president talked about the military operation that was leaked over the weekend.
Um, it’s obviously they need to figure out who’s leaking from the White House. That has to be someone hive within government that put that out there to sources. It’s our job as as the press to cover that. But I’m curious from your perspective and your sources on the the state of play that league played out in the Middle East and who then phoned the White House to get to the negotiating table. It’s a great question because these leaks can be substantial and when you’re looking at a situation with 50,000 US service members, destroyers, refuelers, fighter jets across the region, the operational security is very significant whenever there are plans being made to strike Iran.
And the president indicated he called off the planned strikes at the request not only of Iran but also of Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. What was interesting though, Lawrence, we spoke with senior Israeli intelligence officials over the weekend who said they weren’t even aware of the details of the plan and that’s how close the administration was holding these details to the chest because of how sensitive it is in the region. And so moving forward, we do anticipate the Trump administration will do everything possible to ensure that they’re not giving Iran a heads up. They want to keep the Iranians guessing as these diplomatic pathways play out, understanding that if the talks fail, we are likely looking at a return to combat operations. >> So, obviously, Trey, you know, we are uh seeing the White House trying to keep their cards close to the vest, but there is also a tremendous buildup.
We’ve watched a tremendous buildup over the last couple of months. Uh you know, some of that is Trump trying to put pressure on Iran. Um but when you compare the buildup that we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks to the buildup that we had when all of this began uh six months ago, um can you compare the the uh the posture? >> It’s slightly larger and the president indicated the strikes that were planned are actually larger as well. He described them as the largest since World War II.
But when we look at the equation right now, this is not just an equation of military pressure. This is an equation of economic deterrence and that’s exactly what we have seen from the Trump administration over the past several weeks with the resumption of the US naval blockade. This blockade of Iranian ports is costing the Iranian regime hundreds of millions of dollars each and every day. And it’s part of the reason that the Iranians are looking for an agreement because they understand that as the US military maintains its presence in the region, they have very few options in terms of an off-ramp here. They are either looking at a return to combat operations or some sort of agreement, a negotiated settlement that would alleviate that economic pressure and avoid strikes against the regime.
>> Okay, Trey, thank you so much. He said part one is to open up the straight, which could happen today, and then he said part two is focus on their nuclear weapons and capabilities. Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch full shows streaming now on Fox
