Iran's chief negotiator says there will be 'no more proportionate responses,' and its…

Iran's rhetoric shifted sharply today. Chief negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran would no longer limit itself to 'proportionate responses,' warning that further attacks on Iran would draw a 'faster, heavier, and more painful' reply. Backing that rhetoric, the IRGC claims it attacked three US-affiliated vessels and three oil tankers today using what it called an 'unauthorized' route through the strait. CENTCOM says its blockade-enforcement operations have redirected 92 commercial vessels, disabled three, and boarded two, releasing footage of an F-35A patrol over regional waters. Independent trackers assess the strait as effectively closed to commercial shipping: roughly 6 vessels transited on Aug 30 versus an ~85/day pre-war baseline, and war-risk insurance for tankers is now pricing at roughly 40 times peacetime rates, with six P&I clubs having withdrawn coverage entirely. Analysts at the International Crisis Group suggest Iran may be escalating because it feels its control over the strait — and its main remaining negotiating leverage — slipping away, especially as actual oil transit volumes (nearing 7 million barrels/day by late August) undercut its 'closed strait' narrative. Brent crude has climbed to $96.28/bbl. Separately, US envoys Witkoff and Kushner concluded over three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow on Sep 5 with no immediate details announced on the outcome; Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in Ryazan and other Russian targets overnight into Sep 6. On the battlefield, Russian combat losses reached approximately 1,496,440 as of Sep 6 (+1,390), with Ukraine's General Staff recording 245 combat clashes, the heaviest fighting still concentrated on the Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka axes.