Iranian forces are accused of mining the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz — the same corridor U.S. escort missions have been using — in what analysts describe as Tehran's answer to the collapse of nuclear talks, according to social media accounts citing a former Green Beret. The claim, posted by @MarioNawfal, has not been independently confirmed, but it tracks with Iranian state media reports of missile attacks on shipping in the vital waterway.
The escalation follows President Donald Trump's rejection of a truce proposal put forward by Tehran, a decision first reported by @NEWSMAX. Trump said Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, even after publicly telling the Iranians to 'pound sand,' according to a transcript of remarks posted by @MarioNawfal.
Iran's foreign minister says Tehran has not yet received a formal reply from Washington and is still waiting for a concrete position to be conveyed through intermediaries. The Iranians are 'hitting all the airwaves,' according to former U.S. diplomat and JCPOA negotiator Alan Eyre, who spoke on a program posted by @MarioNawfal. Eyre said Tehran pitched a deal last week that would essentially expedite the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding — an agreement Trump himself signed in June but, according to Eyre, never read.
'Iran wants to leave the door open,' Eyre said. 'And they also want to present themselves as a model of rationality. So it becomes clear, they hope, that President Trump is just acting irrationally and spurning a good deal.'
That deal would include sanctions relief, the release of frozen assets, and a return to the framework Trump approved months ago. But Trump is holding out for better terms. 'I think what's going to happen is we're going to win this war very soon,' Trump said in remarks posted by @MarioNawfal. 'And as soon as we win it, it's going to go, the oil will go down, way down to what it was before the war. And the key is Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.'
Trump also claimed the U.S. has 'already won' militarily, even though fighting continues. 'That doesn't mean we've stopped that. But we're certainly winning it very big,' he said.
Iran's response to that posture, according to Brandon Weichert — a guest on the program posted by @MarioNawfal — was the mining operation. 'They were going to deter that,' Weichert said. 'They were going to nip that in the bud.'
Weichert described the attack as one of the most significant in months, with between six and ten anti-ship ballistic missiles fired, along with mines allegedly deployed on the Omani side of the strait. The U.S. Navy was conducting one of its larger escort missions at the time, which Weichert said indicated Washington knew it needed to push more volume through before Iran closed the trap. 'I think Iran is now closing the trap,' he said.
The numbers remain disputed. Iranian media claims seven ships were targeted overnight and another twelve the night before — nineteen in total. Axios reported that no ships were struck in the Strait of Hormuz over the same period. 'So you got two extremes,' Weichert said. 'Iran saying they struck or targeted nineteen ships. U.S. saying or Axios saying no ships were struck. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.'
Eyre offered a similar assessment, invoking a phrase from foreign policy analyst Sal Mercogliano: 'Somewhere between zero and eighteen ships were hit. We'll call it nine. All will be revealed in the fullness of time.'
What is clear, according to Eyre, is that Iran believes its window of opportunity is closing before the U.S. midterms. 'Eventually Iran will have to escalate to increase the price on Americans,' he said. 'Ships are getting through — maybe thirteen million barrels a day, maybe less, maybe more. But the way it's happening is unsustainable.'
Eyre said he has spoken with Navy personnel who told him the service cannot sustain escort missions indefinitely. 'Even if the shippers weren't kind of balking at it, the Navy is going to have to discontinue soon because of the readiness problem.'
The Iranians, he said, are moving toward escalation. Trump, meanwhile, is open to the idea that the U.S. will be hit again. 'Oh well, you know, in the end, we'll all be dead,' Trump reportedly told Tucker Carlson before the war began — a remark Eyre called 'stunning.'
Weichert pressed Eyre on what escalation might look like beyond maritime attacks. Eyre listed a range of options: increased targeting of Gulf energy infrastructure, cutting undersea communication lines, resuming terrorist attacks, and striking bases in the European theater. He also referenced a story Trump highlighted about the U.K. arresting a group of men allegedly attempting to hassle a military base housing American flights. British authorities have not yet determined whether the plot was linked to Iran or Russia, Eyre said, but he noted that Iran has 'always said it will attack countries who are cooperating with the U.S. aggression against Iran.'
On the question of why Iran has not launched terrorist attacks in Europe or the United States since the war began, Eyre said it is because controlling the Strait of Hormuz is far more effective. 'You don't get strategic deterrence by terrorist acts,' he said. 'And you also lose a lot of world support.' He added that recent Iranian attempts to outsource operations to transnational criminal networks — including a plot to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton and an earlier attempt on the Saudi ambassador — have been unsuccessful.
Eyre cautioned, however, that Iran could piggyback on Hezbollah's international networks if it chose to. 'Hezbollah-Iranian cooperation is pretty solid,' he said. 'They could piggyback on that. They've done that before.'
Also joining the fray is Infowars, which promoted a segment with former Green Beret Matt Murphy. @infowars posted a 'RED ALERT' announcing Murphy would deliver 'a deep dive into ISIS, covert military operations, alleged false flags & the growing Iran war.' @RealAlexJones described Murphy as the man 'who literally trained ISIS in secret program' and said he would 'expose Islamic terror networks carrying out false flags to further drag the US into the Iran war.' Those are claims made on air, not findings.
The broader conflict has also drawn in Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen, where Eyre said the Saudis are attempting offensives against Ansar Allah air defenses. 'Neither side is going to win militarily,' he said. 'Eventually the two sides will have to reach a new ceasefire.' He added that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman believes he can improve his bargaining position through military force. 'You don't ask for a deal when your opponent's got his hand around your throat,' Eyre said.
On Israel, Eyre said the IDF has been quiet in recent weeks but is likely eager for the U.S. midterms to pass. 'They assume at that point President Trump will be far less restrained in sanctioning Israeli military and other activities targeted on Iran,' he said. He added that the Israeli public and American politicians have grown less supportive of Israel over the past year, and that a future administration might be more willing to restrain Israeli military action.
Trump's optimism about a quick end to the war and plunging oil prices came even as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran remains 'steadfast even if it comes to apocalyptic war,' according to The National. Al Jazeera reported that experts see Trump's rejection of the truce as a bet that sanctions can extract more concessions — but warn he risks losing leverage.
Next News Network could not independently verify the mining claim or the number of ships struck in the Strait of Hormuz.
Our Take
Trump says the war is won. Iran says it is just getting started. Both cannot be true, and the American people deserve better than a White House that insists everything is fine while mines float in the world's most important oil chokepoint. The president's information bubble — call it what it is — has him believing that victory is inevitable and that oil prices will collapse the moment he declares mission accomplished. Meanwhile, the Navy is stretched thin, the Strait is a shooting gallery, and Iran is playing a long game that does not require it to win a single battle. It only requires us to lose our nerve, our readiness, or our wallet. Trump rejected a deal that his own negotiators apparently accepted months ago because he thinks he can get a better one. Maybe he can. But betting on Iran to fold before the midterms is not a strategy. It is a prayer. And prayers do not stop anti-ship ballistic missiles.
