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serving Iran.

And Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said control of Hormuz would allow Tehran to “provide itself and its neighbours with the precious blessing of a future free from American presence and interference”.

Trump was expected to receive a briefing yesterday on new plans for potential military action in Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, two sources with knowledge of US planning told news site Axios.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned, meanwhile, that it was “possible that we may soon have to act again” against Iran to achieve the war’s objectives.

But the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards aerospace force, Majid Mousavi, said that even a “short and tactical” enemy operation would be met with “with painful, prolonged, and extensive strikes”.

“We have already seen the fate of your bases in the region; we will also see your warships” face the same, he added, speaking to state TV.

This week Trump has reportedly told oil executives and national security officials to prepare for a long US blockade designed to force Tehran to surrender its nuclear programme, and, speaking to Axios, said: “They are choking like a stuffed pig.”

US Central Command said Wednesday in a social media post that it had reached a “significant milestone after successfully redirecting the 42nd commercial vessel attempting to violate the blockade”.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called the US blockade “a disruption to lasting stability” in the Gulf that was “doomed to fail”.

Oil prices struck a four-year high yesterday. International benchmark Brent crude soared more than seven percent to $126 a barrel, but then eased in afternoon trading in London.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the closure of Hormuz was “strangling the global economy” and International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told a meeting at his Paris headquarters: “The world is facing the biggest energy crisis in history.”

Trump faces domestic political pressure to end the war, which is unpopular even with much of his base, and has increased costs for American consumers and unnerved US allies.

Iran’s economy is also suffering, and the rial has fallen to historic lows against the dollar.

Iran proposed easing its chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifted its blockade and broader negotiations took place. But the Trump administration has insisted that Iran’s nuclear programme be on the table.

Violence has continued on the war’s Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least nine people, the health ministry said Thursday, shortly after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denounced what he called “continuing Israeli violations” of the truce.

The Israeli military yesterday said that another soldier had been killed in Lebanon’s south -- the 17th since the campaign there began.