Day 164 of the WarMonday, August 10, 2026
Day 164 — Mojtaba Remakes the Military Command as Tehran and Trump Trade Reparation Demands and Oil Jumps 5%
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TehranWashington / TehranStrait of HormuzIranYemen / Baghdad
Mojtaba Reshapes the Top Brass — Vahidi to the IRGC, Taeb to the Basij
Iran- Mojtaba Khamenei issued decrees for six senior commanders, naming Ali Abdollahi Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and Kiumars Heydari his deputy; the General Staff had been headless for about five months since Abdolrahim Mousavi was killed on March 9, per RadioFarda.source
- Ahmad Vahidi was promoted and appointed commander-in-chief of the IRGC, with Mostafa Izadi — formerly head of the IRGC's cyber and emerging-threats headquarters — as his deputy and Ali Azmaei named IRGC Navy commander, per Iran International and Open Source Intel.source
- The Basij was handed to Hossein Taeb, a former head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization who is on U.S. and EU sanctions lists over human rights violations, Iran International reports.source
- Pezeshkian told state TV his meeting with Mojtaba Khamenei lasted 'about seven hours' and that the Leader was 'completely healthy' — anyone who can sit and debate for seven or eight hours has no health problem; no photo or audio of the meeting has been released, per RadioFarda.source
Sixty Names on Death Row — and a British Couple Ends Its Hunger Strike
Iran- Amid a rise in executions of protest-related detainees, the Committee for Monitoring the Status of Detainees in Iran published the names of 60 people under death sentence, warning of dozens more cases with charges such as 'moharebeh' that can carry the death penalty, per RadioFarda.source
- British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, arrested in January 2025 on a round-the-world motorcycle trip and sentenced to 10 years for 'espionage,' which they deny, have ended a months-long hunger strike in prison, their family says, per RadioFarda.source
Down to Six Ships a Day — and 6,000 Seafarers Stranded in the Gulf
Gulf & Naval- MarineTraffic data show Hormuz transits fell from 15 on August 7 to 11 the next day and just six on August 9 — 32 in three days, 17 of them via Iran's 'unilateral scheme' route — while 116 ships crossed Bab al-Mandab in the same period, per Iran International.source
- The Guardian reports 17 seafarers have died since the war began and some 6,000 remain stranded on 500 ships in the Persian Gulf, with Hormuz traffic down to about 10% of the pre-war average, per Iran International.source
- U.S. officials told Axios that eight million barrels of oil a day are being moved out through Hormuz in coordination with the U.S. military, as Brent crossed $84 amid the uncertainty, per Iran International.source
- The IRGC warned that if the U.S., Israel or their allies cast 'even the slightest aggressive glance' at the islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, it would make the Persian Gulf 'their burial site,' Open Source Intel reports.source
Houthi Threats on Yemen's Coast as Baghdad Moves Against a PMF-Linked Minister
Gulf & Naval- The Houthis released a video warning Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and Saudi Arabia that 'wherever you gather, you will be bombed,' featuring the city and port of al-Makha, which the group has struck several times over the past day, LiveIranNews reports.source
- A Baghdad court issued an arrest warrant for Iraq's Labor Minister Ahmad Asadi, a former spokesman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, on charges of misusing government contracts and large-scale corruption, and he was stripped of parliamentary immunity, LiveIranNews reports.source
Reparations Versus Reparations — Hopes for Hormuz Fade and Oil Jumps 5%
Global- FM spokesman Esmail Baghaei said reopening Hormuz is 'contingent upon the lifting of the U.S. maritime blockade' and compensation; tolls have not been discussed with Oman, 'but naturally, when services are provided at sea, their costs must also be collected,' per Iran International.source
- Trump countered that Iran must pay reparations for 'all the people it has killed or severely injured'; as hopes of reopening Hormuz faded, Brent rose about 5% to close at $87.72 a barrel, per RadioFarda.source
- Trump said the Strait 'is open now' and under '100% U.S. control,' claiming U.S. forces found and cleared mines Iran had laid, and called Iran 'completely bankrupt,' unable to pay its soldiers, Iran International reports.source
- Israel's Foreign Ministry said new SNSC secretary Mohsen Rezaei is subject to an Interpol red notice over the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 85, adding that 'the Iranian regime worships assassination,' per Iran International.source