FILE - Former President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse, Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

It's been 135 days since the start of the Iran War, and a diplomatic solution seems shakier than ever. President Donald Trump said Monday that  we're taking over the Strait of Hormuz,  a day after announcing that  we bombed the hell out of them.  Iran also asserted control of the formerly freely navigable waterway after retaliating with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman.

And Congress is returning following the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham. His death after a tear in his aorta Saturday leaves Republicans with just 51 members, with Mitch McConnell still recovering and South Carolina's governor needing to appoint Graham's interim successor.


The Latest:

Top Iran adviser says Iran won't retreat from controlling the strait

Mohammed Mokhber, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, says Tehran will fight for the Strait of Hormuz.

 We defend it so that in the future, for the passage of our ships, we are not forced to pay tribute to the enemy!  he wrote on X.  Retreating from this vital matter has no place in the mind of any friend of Iran. 

Trump says  we're taking over the Strait' of Hormuz

That's what Trump said Monday on Fox News Channel's  Fox and Friends. 

Both the U.S. and Iran asserted Monday that they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war.

Trump also said that  everything was agreed to  in an 11-hour meeting Sunday, but Iranian negotiators called back later  and they say, 'we had to make a couple of changes.  He didn't specify details.

The latest exchange was sparked by an Iranian attack on a container ship on Sunday in the strait, a critical waterway for international oil and gas over which Iran has asserted control since the United States and Israel started the war on Feb. 28.

Graham's death a setback for Senate Republic

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