The latest U.S.-Iran military clash over the Strait of Hormuz escalated Tuesday, with Tehran asserting that the U.S. must respect Iranian sovereignty over the strategic waterway if Washington wants international shipping to return to prewar levels.

The warning came hours after American forces in the region unleashed a fresh wave of airstrikes on targets inside Iran. U.S. Central Command said the “five-hour mission” that unfolded just after dawn Tehran time aimed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping.”

The U.S. strikes came after President Trump said Monday that U.S. forces were reimposing a blockade on Iranian ports and taking control of the Strait of Hormuz, moving Washington and Tehran closer to all-out war a month after the sides negotiated a path to peace. “The Hormuz Strait is OPEN,” Mr. Trump said on social media. “We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE.” Later Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he is backing off his plan to charge a 20% toll on foreign ships using the strait but wants the U.S. to be reimbursed for its security efforts through investment deals sponsored by Gulf-region nations.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel will have the authority to request and receive all information about potential leaks throughout the department — part of a joint task force effort with the Justice Department to prosecute leakers of classified information.

The announcement of the new anti-leak task force comes days after the Justice Department issued subpoenas to four New York Times reporters who reported security concerns about the Qatari-donated jet Mr. Trump used to travel to Turkey for last week’s NATO summit.

Prior to the announcement, Stephen J. Adler, chairman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, sharply criticized the subpoenas. He said in a statement over the weekend that the actions being taken by the administration could result in “irreparable harm” to “the freedom upon which this nation is built.”

Mr. Isaacman’s visit to Kazakhstan Tuesday was part of a special diplomatic mission to attend the scheduled launch of a U.S.-Russian crew to the International Space Station. Despite intense geopolitical tension between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine and other issues, Mr. Isaacman’s presence signals ongoing U.S.-Russia cooperation in orbit.

His trip to the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan marked the first visit by a NASA chief in eight years, according to The Associated Press, which reported that Mr. Isaacman met with the crew on Monday and thanked Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, for its efforts to prepare for the mission.

Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. cooperate on the space station and other projects. That relationship was marred by tensions after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, but Washington and Moscow have continued to work together, with U.S. and Russian crews flying to the orbiting outpost on each country’s spacecraft.

There have been more than 1.4 million Russian casualties (killed, wounded, missing or captured) and hundreds of thousands killed, writes Joseph R. DeTrani, who asks: “Are the Russian people aware of the magnitude of this tragedy?”

Mr. DeTrani, a former associate director of national intelligence and opinion contributor to Threat Status, asserts that Mr. Trump “must tell the Russian people about the carnage in Russia’s war with Ukraine.

“He must tell them about the Russian lives lost and the crushing financial cost of a five-year invasion of a sovereign nation,” Mr. DeTrani writes. “President Reagan ensured that he got information into the former Soviet Union so the people knew their government was lying about the cost in lives and money of its war in Afghanistan.”

In 18 months, the Trump administration has “reasserted American dominance in this hemisphere more forcefully than any other government since President Ronald Reagan,” according to Michael L. Barrett. He is the vice chairman of Hamilton Reserve Bank, founder and CEO of Global Premier Health, and senior executive leader in residence with KPMG Advisory Services.

He notes in an op-ed for The Washington Times that “in March, Caribbean governments were among the signatories of the Shield of the Americas framework at Doral, and the president told Congress that American supremacy in the Western Hemisphere will never again be questioned.

“He is right,” Mr. Barrett writes. “Yet primacy secured by the Navy must be consolidated by capital, or it will not last decades into the future. The Caribbean is no longer simply America’s neighborhood. It is becoming one of America’s greatest strategic assets.”

• July 14 — Strategic Landpower Dialogue: A Conversation with Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• July 14 — The Fiscal 2027 Defense Budget: How Much is Enough? Brookings Institution

• July 14-17 — Aspen Security Forum, Aspen Strategy Group

• July 14-15 — Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, Sen. Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania Republican, U.S. Army War College

• July 15 — The Future of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East, with Rep. Mike Lawler, New York Republican, Hudson Institute 

• July 22 — Expanding U.S. Investment in the Western Hemisphere, Atlantic Council 

• Aug. 4-5 — Air and Space Force Procurement Conference, American Defense Alliance