The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Trump told aides he's willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran's firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date.

In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks.

He decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran's navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade.

If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials said.

The longer the strait remains closed, the more it will roil the global economy and boost gas prices. 

Oil is falling significantly on the news, erasing all of its earlier gains on the news...

Iran Strikes Fully-Laden Kuwaiti Crude Carrier

After two weeks of 'calm', the Kuwaiti crude carrier Al-Salmi was attacked by Iran while in Dubai Port, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said in a statement.

The tanker was fully-laden.

The attack resulted in damage to hull, outbreak of fire on board.

Emergency teams were mobilized and working to contain the situation.

The organization confirmed that there were no human casualties as a result of the incident.

The incident may include potential oil spill in surrounding waters.

Kuwaiti residents were issued an "extreme level" threat alert.

Oil prices immediately jumped higher on the report...