❗Conflict Overview: Day 181

▪Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has called on his nation to mobilize domestic resources to counter the consequences of a planned US economic war on the Islamic Republic

▪Iran may return to negotiations with the US, but Washington must first stop applying pressure, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated

▪Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi described Washington’s declaration that the Strait of Hormuz belongs to the United States as a delusion and hallucination

▪All independent countries should refuse participation in the US economic war against Iran and not recognize any anti-Iranian sanctions, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said

▪Over the past few months, the US military helped approximately 1,500 ships to pass the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Bradley Cooper

▪A total of 50,000 US troops are currently deployed in the Middle East, US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Bradley Cooper said

▪Oil exports through the Persian Gulf have recovered to two-thirds of their pre-war level, reaching roughly 15-16 mln barrels per day, as the number of transits through the Strait of Hormuz has increased, Bloomberg reported, citing analysts at Goldman Sachs

▪At least 70 attacks on international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have been verified by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) since February 28, with 19 seafarers killed, the organization’s Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said

▪A meeting on Iran in Istanbul involving the foreign ministers of the E3 - the United Kingdom, Germany and France - as well as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey has been postponed, DPA reported, citing sources in the German government

▪The United States believes it has turned the tide in the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported