Iran-US war latest: Tehran risks row with Trump with new plan to bypass Strait of Hormuz blockade

Tehran will use alternative ports to those in southern Iran to bypass the US blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr News is reporting.

The US military has claimed it has “maritime superiority in the Middle East” since the blockade began on Monday, in response to a collapse in US-Iran ceasefire talks over the weekend.

The military’s Central Command said that US forces had completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea - which it said fueled 90 per cent of Iran’s economy - in just 36 hours.

Donald Trump has since claimed that the Iran war is “close to over” and claimed Tehran wants to make a deal to end the conflict “very badly”.

“If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country”, Trump said of Iran in a pre-taped interview with Fox Business.“And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly”, the president added.

He predicted that there will be an “amazing two days ahead” but that it “could end either way”, ABC News reported.