A senior Iranian official said on Friday that the general principles of a strategic action plan to manage the Strait of Hormuz were agreed upon in a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Councils, Al Jazeera reported, citing Iranian media. A spokesperson of the committee, Valiullah Bayati, told Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency that “the strategic action plan to ensure the security and progress of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf was reviewed by the Councils’ Commission and, after hearing the opinions, its general outline was approved." According to Al Jazeera, one of the resolutions in the plan was to prohibit the passage of vessels and equipment owned by the United States, Israel, and other “hostile countries” through the strait. “This is because these countries have used the Strait of Hormuz to carry out hostile actions against our country, and have committed unjust and aggressive acts against the Iranian people,” Bayati said. Saudi crown prince, US CENTCOM chief discuss regional tensions Earlier, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Admiral Brad Cooper discussed efforts to reduce regional tensions on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the Saudi Press Agency.  The crown prince reportedly received Cooper for a meeting, however, the Saudi Press Agency did not specify where the talks were held, Anadolu Agency reported. The two sides discussed Saudi-US cooperation in defence fields, regional developments, and ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions and strengthen security and stability across the region, the news agency added. As per Anadolu Agency, earlier on Thursday, Saudi Arabia announced that 13 countries had joined a multinational defensive maritime alliance, marking its effective launch. The Saudi Defence Ministry said the alliance’s third planning meeting was held at the Western Fleet Command in the coastal city of Jeddah, with representatives from 39 countries participating. #فيديو_الدفاع | مشاهد من أعمال اجتماع التخطيط الثالث للتحالف البحري الدفاعي متعدد الجنسيات المنعقد في جدة بمشاركة ممثّلين عن 39 دولة. pic.twitter.com/xD7GjIq4a8 — وزارة الدفاع (@modgovksa) August 13, 2026 The ministry described the meeting as a "key step" toward activating the alliance. The Strait of Hormuz has seen escalating tensions amid the US-Iran war, raising fears of disruptions to shipping and global energy supplies despite diplomatic efforts to consolidate understandings on freedom of navigation through the strategic waterway. Vance says lower oil prices top priority over Iran nuclear issue The US on Friday said that keeping oil and gas prices low for Americans was its top priority in the war, ahead of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "I know that oil is down today and it's way down from the highs in the early days of the conflict," Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News, according to Anadolu Agency. He added, "That's goal number one - keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country." Vance also stated, "And then obviously goal number two is to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon." 🛢️US says lower oil prices now top priority over Iran nuclear issue Vice President JD Vance says keeping oil and gas cheap for Americans is the administration's 'goal number one' https://t.co/ya84OlkEUt pic.twitter.com/XiGTcfKPi5 — Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) August 14, 2026 On Thursday, US ​Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ‌said that the US was going to ​apply measures that have "never ​been seen" on Iran. "Watch this ⁠space for more announcements ​coming next week because we ​are going to apply measures like have never been seen in ​the history of economic ​isolation on a country," Bessent said in ‌an ⁠interview on on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" programme. Bessent said the measures would combine increased economic pressure on Tehran with restrictions related to the Strait of Hormuz. "It will be a combination of economic isolation like the world has never seen before, and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports," he said. On Thursday, the US said that it could maintain a naval blockade ​of Iran indefinitely and would ratchet up economic pressure on Tehran as ceasefire talks have floundered, global oil supply is dropping and regional tensions are rising. Defence ‌Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the US military has the capability to maintain a naval presence in the region to enforce its blockade of Iran, which has inflicted severe economic damage on the country. "Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we'll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we'll continue to," Hegseth told reporters during a trip to Panama. With a ⁠tentative June deal to end the war in tatters, Iran has sought to exert leverage on Washington in return by controlling the Strait of Hormuz. It has attacked some vessels trying to ​transit the strategic waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas traveled before the war began in February. Two vessels from the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ​were attacked transiting the strait on Thursday evening, UAE state news agency WAM reported. The United Arab Emirates government condemned it as an Iranian attack. GCC condemns attack on UAE's ADNOC tankers The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi condemned the "brutal Iranian attack" on two tankers affiliated with the UAE's ADNOC company in the Strait of Hormuz. According to a post by the GCC's Secretariat General, Albudaiwi emphasised that the "repeated targeting of navigation, facilities, and properties constitutes an unacceptable escalation and a grave violation of international law." معالي الأمين العام لمجلس التعاون @jasemalbudaiwi يدين بأشد العبارات الاعتداء الإيراني الغاشم على ناقلتين تابعتين لشركة أدنوك الإماراتية في مضيق هرمز، مشدداً على أن الاستهداف المتكرر للملاحة والمنشآت والممتلكات يعد تصعيدٌ مرفوضٌ وانتهاكٌ جسيمٌ للقانون الدولي.#مجلس_التعاون… pic.twitter.com/o0SnBBhbLv — مجلس التعاون (@GCCSG) August 14, 2026 US President Donald Trump is under pressure at home to end a war that is deeply unpopular, with high fuel prices dragging down his approval ratings and potentially eroding his party's control of Congress in midterm elections in November. Trump has repeatedly asserted that the US has "total control" over ​the strait, prompting Iranian denials. Tehran has said it will not allow the waterway to reopen until its conditions are met. These include removing economic sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian assets. Shipping ​traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to eight vessels on Tuesday, compared with a 10-day average of about 12 vessels, and 130 to 140 ships before the war. The US lifted its blockade of ‌Iran's shipping and ⁠ports for a month in mid-June but has since reimposed it, cutting off Tehran's primary source of hard currency and compounding earlier losses from wartime strikes on its energy infrastructure. Washington previously said it would lift the Iranian blockade once Iran and Oman, which sit on either side of the strait, reach an agreement to restore commercial shipping. Shrinking oil supply Trump has also repeatedly threatened to escalate military strikes and "hit Iran hard," although he has thus far resisted deploying ground troops or seizing strategic islands and bombing desalination plants. Earlier this week, Trump suggested he would rely on economic ​means, rather than military action. The US has tightened ​economic sanctions against Iran and other individuals ⁠and entities that it says are helping it procure weapons, but the pressure campaign has failed to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table. Stress is mounting on the global economy. The International Energy Agency on Wednesday forecast that global oil supply would fall by 4.3 million barrels per ​day, or around 4%, this year. Just a month ago, the agency had forecast a drop of 3.7 million barrels per day. Oil prices ​settled down more than 2% on ⁠Thursday after a week of gain, as investors focused on signs of weaker global demand and a sharp increase in US crude inventories. But reports that Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis had targeted a Saudi Aramco refinery with drones unsettled the market, renewing concerns about a widening regional war. Global economists have forecast a sharp drop in global growth as a result of the war, and potentially a swing into recession in ⁠some areas, ​warning that the impact will grow if the war is not ended soon. Hegseth declined to comment on a question ​about whether, in retrospect, it was a mistake to declare a ceasefire in April, a move that ended high-tempo bombing of Iran in exchange for peace negotiations that have failed to resolve the conflict. "I'm never going to comment on ​that. We're doing exactly what we need to, to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon," Hegseth said.