US Central Command said on 28 August it had cleared Iranian mines from two Strait of Hormuz transit routes. Five days later a spokesman for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said more mines had been laid on the same southern routes. Between the two claims, two supertankers were struck leaving the strait, US aircraft hit IRGC sites inside Iran, and Iranian missiles and drones reached Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq.
Four American Hormuz throughput figures in three weeks fail to reconcile, and none can be checked from outside.
Admiral Brad Cooper said Navy divers, SEALs and aircraft from four services removed Revolutionary Guard mines from two Strait of Hormuz transit routes. He gave no total for the mines removed.
United Arab EmiratesAdmiral Brad Cooper said on Friday 28 August that Navy divers and special-operations teams had swept two Strait of Hormuz shipping routes clear of Iranian mines. Aircraft from four military branches took part.
He published no mine count, no route chart and no independent survey. Iran disputed the claim within a week.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari said fresh naval mines had been laid overnight south of the Strait of Hormuz, on the corridor CENTCOM had called clear five days earlier. No survey exists that would settle it.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on 2-3 September that fresh naval mines had been laid overnight. The claim covers the same Hormuz corridor the US Navy called swept on 28 August.
Neither claim carries independent proof. A route can be cleared one week and re-mined the next, with no outside body able to check either government's word.
The Saudi-operated Sidr and South Korea's Senegal Prosperity were struck minutes apart by unidentified projectiles off Khasab, both running with their transponders switched off. Nobody has claimed the attack.
Unidentified projectiles struck the Saudi-operated Sidr and South Korea's Senegal Prosperity minutes apart late on 1 September. Both ships were leaving the strait of Hormuz near Khasab, Oman, with transponders switched off.
Nobody has claimed the attack. Going dark did not protect either ship, suggesting the attacker tracked them some other way.
A CENTCOM release timed 18:40 on 1 September named air defence, radar, maritime assets, mine-laying capability and communications sites inside Iran, and justified the strikes by attacks on shipping and on American troops.
United StatesThe US Central Command said in a release on Tuesday 1 September that American forces had struck air defence, radar, maritime, mine-laying and communications sites inside Iran. It blamed recent attacks on shipping and on US troops.
The release names target categories, not numbers, so nobody outside the command can check how large the strikes actually were.
Axios reported that Donald Trump approved striking Iranian tankers in reprisal for attacks on commercial shipping, citing unnamed officials. CENTCOM's own target list contains no tanker, and its spokesman declined to confirm the policy.
United StatesAxios reported on 1 September, citing unnamed officials, that Donald Trump had approved a "tanker for tanker" policy. Drones reportedly struck the engine rooms of two Iranian oil tankers.
The US military command that would carry this out declined to confirm the policy, and its own release from the same night names no tanker.
Iran's Health Minister put the dead from the 1 September US strikes at 18 with 108 wounded. State media itemised four locations that add up to the same 18, in an account characterising roughly 11 as confirmed.
United Arab EmiratesIran's Health Minister said the 1 September US strikes killed 18 and wounded 108. State media itemised the dead across four locations, including a wedding in Sirik, that also sum to 18.
The same account describes roughly 11 deaths as confirmed. Neither figure is independently verified, and this desk resolves neither.
Jordan's Armed Forces said air defences destroyed eight missiles over its territory on 31 August and intercepted 10 of 13 the next day. The IRGC says it hit Camp Titin and killed a large number of Americans.
United Arab EmiratesJordanJordan's Armed Forces said air defences destroyed eight missiles over its territory early on Monday 31 August, then intercepted 10 of 13 fired the next day.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard separately claims it struck Camp Titin and killed many US troops there. No Jordanian or American statement has named the base.
A drone struck a residential complex in Kuwait City, Bahrain's Defence Force called the attacks a violation of international humanitarian law, and Erbil said it shot down 10 explosive-laden drones. Each state spoke through its own institutions.
United Arab EmiratesKuwait's state news agency said a hostile Iranian drone struck a residential complex in Kuwait City on 2 September, with losses confined to property. Bahrain's Defence Force reported intercepting Iranian missiles and drones the same period.
Erbil authorities said separately that ten explosive-laden drones were shot down over Iraqi Kurdistan with no casualties.
The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia each condemned Iran's attacks on Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraqi Kurdistan. The UAE was not among the states struck.
United Arab EmiratesThe United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia each condemned Iran's 1-2 September attacks on Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq's Kurdistan region. None of the three was itself among the states struck.
Five Gulf governments have now used sovereignty language against Tehran within two days, without any joint military step behind it.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright called 31 August a wartime record, with more than 17 million barrels crossing the strait by ship. Samir Madani of TankerTrackers.com put that day's Arabian Sea outflow at about 9.14 million.
United States×2United Arab EmiratesEnergy Secretary Chris Wright said more than 17 million barrels crossed the strait of Hormuz by ship on 31 August, a wartime record. Tracker Samir Madani put that day's Arabian Sea outflow at about 9.14 million barrels.
Wright's total folds in 4-5 million barrels a day of pipeline volume that bypasses the strait, so the two men may not be measuring the same water.
Washington indefinitely stayed the standing authorisations covering family remittances, educational activity, conferences, sports and academic exchange with Iran. Transactions may be wound down only until 8 September.
The US Treasury's sanctions office indefinitely suspended five general licences from 24 August, covering personal remittances to Iran plus academic, conference and sports exchange. Wind-down runs only to 8 September.
The licences existed to fix humanitarian side-effects of Iran sanctions that Treasury itself had documented a decade earlier.
The National Iranian American Council wrote to Scott Bessent and Marco Rubio on 31 August demanding the suspensions be reversed, arguing the exemptions were created to fix harm the sanctions themselves caused.
The National Iranian American Council wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 31 August demanding reversal of the general-licence suspensions.
President Jamal Abdi said the exemptions were created over a decade ago to fix harm the sanctions themselves caused. The licence system allows no formal appeal, so Abdi's letter is the only lever the council can pull.
Educational Testing Service paused TOEFL and GRE administration in Iran and cancelled booked appointments. Duolingo went further, refusing its English Test to anyone holding Iranian identification anywhere on earth.
QatarEducational Testing Service paused its English-proficiency and graduate-admissions exams in Iran on 1 September. Duolingo went further, barring its English Test from anyone holding Iranian government identification anywhere in the world.
Duolingo's ban reaches further than the sanctions action it cited, because companies often restrict more broadly than the law strictly requires.
Operation Economic Outcast sanctioned nearly 60 Iran-linked targets on 24 August, reached a Hong Kong trading company on 28 August, and moved on an Egyptian bank's UAE branches on 1 September. The UN panel that monitors Iran sanctions expires on 27 September.
Treasury's sanctions campaign hit nearly 60 Iran-linked targets on 24 August, then added a Hong Kong trading company on 28 August. It moved against an Egyptian bank's branches in the United Arab Emirates on 1 September.
The UN body that monitors Iran sanctions loses its mandate on 27 September, with its own oversight committee unable to convene.
The Treasury Secretary told buyers of Iranian oil they face an economic D-Day, declining to name China. Chinese purchases had already fallen by half before he spoke, for reasons no American instrument reached.
United States×2Scott Bessent said on 25 August that buyers of Iranian oil face an "economic D-Day", declining to name China. Beijing's foreign ministry replied that sanctions "do not help".
China's Iranian crude imports had already halved to about 700,000 barrels a day before he spoke, for commercial reasons, limiting what the threat can still change.
The agency's quarterly report calls its lack of information about Iran's nuclear material a proliferation concern and describes access to the Isfahan plant as urgent. Rafael Grossi asked for a verifiable diplomatic agreement.
The UN's nuclear watchdog said around 1 September that it still cannot verify Iran's nuclear material, calling the gap a proliferation concern. It called access to the Isfahan plant urgent.
Director General Rafael Grossi asked for a verifiable diplomatic agreement. A single later inspection cannot fully rebuild a broken monitoring record.
Sideways for now: the contested Hormuz claims and the unconfirmed tanker policy raise the temperature without a newly authorised instrument. The mechanism that would tip it up is confirmation rather than denial, if CENTCOM or the White House ever names the "tanker for tanker" policy Axios described, or if a verified re-mining forces a second US clearance operation. The mechanism that would tip it down is the 8 September 2026 wind-down deadline on OFAC's suspended remittance licence: restoring section 560.550 before then is the one dated, reversible decision point in this update that either side controls without a strike.
