The United States has spent nearly $29 billion on its war with Iran, the Pentagon revealed on Tuesday, as a fragile ceasefire threatens to collapse and control of the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes — remains bitterly disputed. Jules Hurst, the Pentagon's acting comptroller, told lawmakers the figure had risen by approximately $4 billion since an estimate given two weeks ago, driven by equipment repair and replacement costs as well as ongoing operational expenses. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, testifying alongside Hurst and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine, said the administration would share further financial accounting with Congress "when relevant and required."

The rising bill comes as peace talks have stalled sharply. President Donald Trump rejected Iran's latest counter-proposal — a 14-point plan demanding full sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to the US naval blockade, unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad and the lifting of sanctions — as "totally unacceptable," saying the ceasefire was on "massive life support." Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf shot back that Washington must accept Tehran's terms or face "nothing but one failure after another," warning that the longer talks drag on, "the more American taxpayers will pay for it." CNN reported that some White House aides said Trump was now more seriously considering resuming military operations. Iran's Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, held combat drills in Tehran and a senior Iranian lawmaker warned that if attacked again, Iran could enrich uranium to 90 percent purity — weapons-grade level.

Underpinning the standoff is a classified US intelligence picture that contradicts official optimism. Assessments reported by the New York Times indicate Iran has restored access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the strait and retains roughly 70 percent of its pre-war missile stockpile and mobile launchers — a finding at odds with Trump's repeated claims that Iran's military capacity has been devastated. Iran has also redefined the Strait of Hormuz as a vastly larger "operational area" than before the war, according to a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval officer, and has begun imposing a toll-collection mechanism on ships transiting the waterway. The head of Saudi oil giant Aramco has described the resulting disruption as the largest energy supply shock the world has ever experienced; bunker fuel prices in Singapore, the world's largest maritime refuelling hub, have surged from roughly $500 to over $800 per metric ton since the conflict began on 28 February.

Regional and international actors are scrambling to contain the damage. Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, warned bluntly that "Iran should not use this strait as a weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries," calling it an international corridor that must always be protected. Turkey's foreign minister echoed the message, saying preventing Hormuz from being weaponised was vital "not only for regional security but also for the global economy." Both Qatar and Turkey expressed support for Pakistan's mediation efforts. Australia announced it would contribute a Wedgetail E-7A surveillance aircraft to a "strictly defensive" multinational naval mission led by France and Britain, once that mission is formally established. The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc's existing Operation Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea could potentially be extended to Hormuz after the war ends.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that the United Arab Emirates secretly struck an Iranian oil refinery on Lavan Island last month, around the time the ceasefire was announced — an allegation Tehran's foreign ministry dismissed as "baseless." On the Lebanon front, Israeli strikes continued to pound the south despite the 17 April truce, killing 13 people on Tuesday including a child and two rescue workers, bringing the total death toll in Lebanon since that ceasefire to 380. Hezbollah's chief Naim Qassem vowed his group would "turn the battlefield into hell for Israel" and refused to surrender its weapons ahead of a new round of Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington. Trump, departing on Tuesday for Beijing for talks with President Xi Jinping, said trade would dominate those discussions but he would also raise Iran — adding that he does not need China's help to resolve the conflict: "We'll win it peacefully or otherwise."