Iran Rejects Trump Claims of US Control over Hormuz as 'Lies'

An Iranian woman walks next to an anti-US billboard at the Enghelab square in central Tehran, Iran, 13 August 2026. Tensions between Iran and the US remain high as opposing claims persist over shipping control in the Strait of Hormuz. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Asharq Al Awsat

14:41-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

14:35-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

14:41-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

14:35-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

Iran Rejects Trump Claims of US Control over Hormuz as 'Lies'

Iran's military on Thursday rejected as "lies" remarks by US President Donald Trump claiming control of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the strategic waterway was fully under Iranian control.

"The false claims of the United States that ships are passing through the Strait of Hormuz normally ... are nothing more than lies and fabrications," said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran's central military command, Khatam-al Anbiya.

"The Strait of Hormuz is, as in the past, under the complete management and control of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and no commercial ship or tanker without the permission and supervision of the powerful Iranian armed forces has had and will have the possibility of safe passage through this strait," he said in a video carried by state television.

Iran has kept control of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit, since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway.

In a Wednesday Truth Social post, Trump claimed that the US "has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!"

"Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, 'A WALL OF STEEL,' and there is nothing Iran can do about it," he added.

On Thursday, the head of Iran's Basij forces under the Revolutionary Guards also said that the strait was under Iranian control.

"Today, you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic republic, and our country continues on its path in complete security," said Hossein Taeb according to state television.

Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said the US makes miscalculations in regard to the waterway.

"The US has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures. Case in point: The war on Iran. Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait of Hormuz," he said on X.

Iranian parliamentarian and member of the national security commission Behnam Saeedi said the strait is closed to US and Israeli ships.

"Ships belonging to the Zionist regime will not have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under any circumstances, whether in war or peacetime," he told state TV, adding that "US military ships will also be barred from passing through the Strait".

Iran and Oman have been in talks to establish a new route through the strait, but negotiations have not yet been finalized.

Tehran, however, says even if the talks produce a new route, that would not on its own open the waterway unless the US meets Iran's demands.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Will Leave at the Month’s End

FILE - White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt watches as President Donald Trump speak to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Asharq Al Awsat

11:29-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

11:29-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Will Leave at the Month’s End

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave the administration at the end of the month to spend more time with her family, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.

Leavitt, 28, is the youngest person to hold the role. She was a press aide during Trump's first term and has been one of the most visible advocates of his “Make America Great Again” movement. Trump did not outline any plans for who might replace her, The Associated Press said.

Meanwhile, Trump said he slipped away from Air Force One after a trip last month in Türkiye because the Secret Service and military wanted him on a “different plane” due to a threat he insisted did not scare him.

He downplayed the extraordinary nature of the subterfuge involved in his flight, which saw him stow away in an airport catering container to sneak onto another plane while Air Force One was sent into the sky, essentially as a decoy.

World

Colombia Enters ‘Final Phase’ of Quake Search as Toll Hits 265

This aerial view shows heavy machinery used by rescuers in the search for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia on August 12, 2026. (AFP)

09:44-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

Colombia Enters ‘Final Phase’ of Quake Search as Toll Hits 265

This aerial view shows heavy machinery used by rescuers in the search for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia on August 12, 2026. (AFP)

Rescuers in Colombia were making last-ditch efforts to locate earthquake survivors early Thursday, as the critical 72-hour window for rescue operations neared its end.

The magnitude 7.4 quake, the strongest to hit Colombia this century, has killed 265 people, injured more than 3,500 and left almost 500 missing, according to local authorities.

In cities such as Cali and Pereira, emergency crews worked through a third night with their bare hands, cranes and sniffer dogs, stopping not to rest but to listen for signs of life.

Thursday morning will mark 72 hours since the quake, a period when survivors are considered most likely to be found alive beneath collapsed buildings.

Cali resident Martha Perez said she felt "helpless" as two relatives were thought to still be trapped under rubble.

"We will hold on to (hope) until the very end," Perez told AFP on Wednesday night.

"As you can see, all of us here -- the entire city of Cali -- are hoping to find more survivors," volunteer rescuer Fernando Loaiza said.

Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said Wednesday that rescue efforts were "entering the final phase."

Colombia's newly installed president Abelardo de la Espriella has declared the disaster an "economic emergency" and announced three days of national mourning.

"We will do what is necessary," he said in a statement, vowing to "emerge again as a country and as a society."

More than 11,000 dwellings have been destroyed and thousands of families have been rendered homeless, according to official figures.

- Holding onto 'hope' -

In Pereira, crews focused on a collapsed bakery where they believe a street vendor trapped since Monday's earthquake may still be alive beneath the rubble.

Rescuers using equipment that detects vibrations said they had picked up possible signs of life from Pablo Loaiza, prompting anxious relatives to gather near the wreckage.

"They tell us it could be him," said his 16-year-old niece, Sara Loaiza. "My heart is about to burst out of my chest."

Relatives said the trapped man appeared to respond when rescuers asked him to knock twice, then three times from beneath the rubble, drawing applause from those gathered at the scene.

"Every half hour we make everyone be quiet to see if we can find people alive," volunteer rescuer Johana Sanchez told AFP.

"So far, three people have been pulled out alive and three dead."

Many have already spent consecutive nights outdoors, either because their homes were damaged or because they feared aftershocks.

In the town of Roldanillo, Yuliana Mendez picked through the wreckage of the beauty products store where she worked, one of many businesses damaged in the disaster.

"It's like starting over from scratch," she said.

In Pereira's Providencia neighborhood, residents hauled furniture and household items from damaged buildings. Among them was lawyer Ana Paulina Crosthwaite, whose apartment block was left unsafe by the quake.

"We're in a state of shock," she told AFP. "We're not prepared to tell our children that we have to pack whatever we can and start a new life."

Many Colombians have mobilized to help, bringing water, food and supplies to affected neighborhoods, while long lines formed outside blood donation centers.

"It's about wanting to help your community, your city and your country," said blood donor Ferney Cabrera.

The United States announced $15.5 million in emergency aid to Colombia, and the European Union pledged two million euros ($2.3 million).

World

US Floats Prospect of Joint Strikes on Colombian Armed Groups

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a forum of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition in Panama City on August 12, 2026. (AFP)

08:19-13 August 2026 AD ـ 29 Safar 1448 AH

US Floats Prospect of Joint Strikes on Colombian Armed Groups

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a forum of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition in Panama City on August 12, 2026. (AFP)

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth floated on Wednesday the possibility of joint strikes on Colombian armed groups, as he welcomed the nation into a military-led counter-narcotics coalition after its conservative president took over last week.

Colombia had authorized "joint military operations to destroy terrorists and terror networks," Hegseth told a gathering of the US-led Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition in Panama.

"Yes," he replied when asked if he had discussed with his Colombian counterpart joint strikes against armed groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), which the US designates as a terrorist group, and remnants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

"Designated terrorist organizations, with partnered governments, will be legitimate targets of the United States government," to include Colombia, Hegseth said when asked if such operations were expected.

President Donald Trump's Latin American policy has expanded dramatically beyond its early focus on the Panama ‌Canal.

More than 200 ‌people have been killed since the launch of US military strikes on suspected drug ‌boats ⁠last September, while a ⁠US-led commando raid in January deposed Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela.

Critics say the US strikes amount to war crimes worthy of the International Criminal Court, but Hegseth blasted the organization and encouraged coalition allies attending the meeting in Panama to withdraw from it.

He compared drug traffickers to al-Qaeda or ISIS terrorists.

Speaking at a hotel in Panama City, Hegseth invoked a revamped Monroe Doctrine, the 19th-century policy asserting US primacy across the Americas that critics associate with decades of US intervention.

He has called it the "Donroe Doctrine" — a play on Trump's name.

"We will defend our hemisphere from external threats," including from ⁠narco-traffickers and foreign malign influence, Hegseth said.

COLOMBIAN CRACKDOWN

Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella's ‌vows of a security crackdown have been embraced by the Trump administration, which ‌announced plans on Friday to provide $1 billion in US security assistance to his government.

During his swearing-in remarks on Friday, De ‌La Espriella vowed to "definitively eradicate the scourge of illicit crops" and committed to also joining the Shield of the ‌Americas program founded by Trump.

De La Espriella has blamed his predecessor, leftist Gustavo Petro, for an expansion of armed groups.

Speaking alongside Hegseth at the event, Colombia's new Defense Minister Jorge Eduardo Mora, a retired major general, said Colombia could take a critical role in combating narco-traffickers on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

"I think the time has arrived for the narco-terrorist cartels to confront ‌the power and the capabilities of the entire hemisphere, led by the United States," Mora said.

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new security ⁠partnership was expected to ⁠surpass the level of cooperation under Plan Colombia, a US-Colombia anti-narcotics initiative launched in the early 2000s.

De La Espriella's election was part of a rightward shift rippling across Latin America.

In Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Panama and Peru, weak economies and rising crime have reshaped voter priorities, allowing once-fringe hard-right candidates to gain traction by promising crackdowns amid a global rise of right-wing nationalism.

In Panama, Trump's administration won a major victory from the country's Supreme Court in January after voicing concerns about encroachment by China. Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison, through local unit Panama Ports Company, lost the port concessions it had held for nearly three decades.

The Panama Canal handles 5% of global maritime trade, making control of its entrance ports a flashpoint for tension between Washington and Beijing.

Addressing the meeting, Panama President Jose Raul Mulino called drug trafficking the biggest threat facing the region and dismissed concerns that the US-led coalition could infringe on members' sovereignty. He made no mention of China.

Instead, he said the transnational crime groups that traffic drugs and people are the real threats to sovereignty.

"There's never going to be a sustainable peace if this enemy (advances)," Mulino said.

Iran Rejects Trump Claims of US Control over Hormuz as 'Lies'

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