Donald Trump: We will decide on the Islamic Republic soon; another tanker burns in Hormuz

Donald Trump, the US president, told reporters on the White House grounds on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, before boarding the presidential helicopter, that the United States will decide "soon" on its next step against the Islamic Republic. He gave no details on what form the decision would take.

Trump called the Islamic Republic a failed country without a functioning economy. According to him, the government in Tehran has no money and cannot even pay its own military personnel. The US president put Iran's inflation rate at 300 percent, a figure for which he did not name a source. He also said the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz. The remarks come a day after Trump said at an election rally in Ohio that the US may have gone too far in targeting the Islamic Republic's leaders.

The Houthis and a possible US strike

Asked whether he had decided on a military strike against the Houthis of Yemen, allies of the Islamic Republic, Trump declined to give a clear answer, saying the Houthis are behaving very badly and that it is not right to announce a decision to reporters. He had said earlier that Washington is considering joining Saudi Arabia's military operation against the Houthis. In recent days the Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports and facilities.

The same day, in a congratulatory message for the 251st anniversary of the founding of the US Navy, the US president called the navy's presence in the Strait of Hormuz a historic achievement and described it as a steel, impenetrable wall that is sometimes called a naval blockade. US Central Command (CENTCOM) had earlier announced that in the second phase of the blockade, American forces had turned back 133 ships. According to the tanker-tracking firm Kpler, loadings of Iranian crude fell to zero between 23 August and 22 September.

Tanker fire east of the Strait of Hormuz

On Tuesday, the public relations office of the Islamic Republic's army navy released a video and announced that a tanker it called a "violator" was damaged and caught fire east of the Strait of Hormuz while passing through an area that Tehran calls "off-limits". The force claimed the ship had switched off its navigation systems. The ship's name, its flag, the extent of the damage and the fate of the crew have not been announced, and no independent source had confirmed the incident at the time of writing.

This is the latest in a series of attacks that the Islamic Republic has dragged commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf into in recent days. The IRGC had claimed responsibility on Monday, 12 October, for an attack on the third supertanker in two days, and UKMTO warnings show that twelve commercial ships in one week have been targeted in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.

Trump spoke of an imminent decision on the Islamic Republic, while the government in Tehran continues attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.