Donald Trump’s vaunted ceasefire with Iran is on the verge of collapse today amid fresh threats of attacks and fears Tehran could be handed control of the world’s most important oil and gas route.

The Islamist regime closed the Strait of Hormuz to traffic overnight, hours after the US president declared a dramatic and decisive victory in the Middle East.

Officials cited ongoing Israeli attacks on Iran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon for the move which sent oil prices oaring ands stock prices falling again.

Trump responded by threatening to green-light ‘bigger, and better and stronger’ attacks on Iran if a permanent deal isn’t reached.

At the same time a new map released by Iran seemed to show areas of the Strait have been mined by its paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, seen as a threat to attack traffic if its demands are not met.

It came against a backdrop of chaos and confusion over who will get to control Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas is transported.

Iranian officials said tankers using the Strait would have to pay tolls in cryptocurrency of $1 per barrel, potentially amounting to £2.2million per ship. 

The White House rejected the idea, only for Trump to later tell reporters it could be done as a ‘beautiful’ joint venture with America. 

Meanwhile Sir Keir Starmer teed up another potential flashpoint in the UK/US row over the war, telling Gulf allies Iran must not ‘hold the Strait of Hormuz to ransom’.  

Some of Mr Trump’s key advisers remain sceptical a deal will hold, according to the New York Times.

Vice President JD Vance branded it a ‘fragile truce’ before last night claiming Iran sent three versions of its 10-point plans, the first of which he claimed was ‘probably written by ChatGPT’. 

He also questioned whether Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key negotiator, understood English.

The latest pinch point in Transatlantic relations, which are at a low not seen in decades, came after Trump again lashed out at NATO allies over the defensive alliance’s reluctance to help the US attack Iran. 

Reports suggest he is mulling withdrawing US troops stationed in those countries, many of which have had an American presence since the end of World War Two as a bulwark against Russian aggression. 

Charts published by semi-official news agencies ISNA and Tasnim on Thursday showed a large circle marked ‘danger zone’ in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme

Overnight Trump also again lashed out at NATO allies over the defensive alliance’s reluctance to help the US attack Iran

Trump had asked NATO member nations to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes. But none of the member nations sent their ships.

‘NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,’ the president posted on his Truth Social media platform, hours after a scheduled meeting with Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general.

Rutte, who infamously called Trump ‘daddy’ at a summit last year, took on a conciliatory tone as he praised the president for the ceasefire agreement in Iran.

The NATO Secretary General appeared on CNN Wednesday to discuss the temporary truce and admitted that Trump was ‘clearly disappointed’ that the US’s allies refused to send help, adding: ‘He clearly told me what he thought of what happened over the last couple of weeks.’

Speaking in the United Arab Emirates today Sir Keir set out that the UK has been constant in its position calling for de-escalation in the Iran conflict and that he wants to see the ceasefire become a lasting peace.

He reiterated that Iran ‘must not hold the Strait of Hormuz to ransom’ and that nations will need to come together on a solution.

In a further deepening of the disarray in the Middle East the Tehran regime closed the Straits again overnight, blaming continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon

The remarks came after Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was ‘crucial’ that Iran is not allowed to apply tolls.

And in a speech at the Lady Mayor’s Easter Banquet in London tonight, she is expected to say that rights of passage ‘must not be unilaterally withdrawn or sold off to individual bidders’, adding: ‘Nor can there be any place for tolls on an international waterway.’ 

Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire and reopening the waterway while a 10-point peace plan is negotiated by both sides, Trump announced on Wednesday. 

The exact terms remain unsettled, but ships must notify intermediary companies linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of their cargo, destination and owner – with tolls of at least $1 per barrel payable in Chinese yuan or cryptocurrency. 

Trump welcomed the idea on Wednesday, telling ABC: ‘We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it – also securing it from lots of other people.. it’s a beautiful thing.’

However last night Tehran halted tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, warning unauthorised ships would be ‘targeted and destroyed’. 

Charts dated from February 28 until April 9 were published by  news agencies ISNA and Tasnim on Thursday, showing a large circle marked ‘danger zone’ in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme.

This was the route ships used to take through the strait – a narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 per cent of all oil and natural gas traded once passed.

State media also reported the ceasefire would fail if Israel continued attacking Lebanon, home to Iranian terrorist proxy Hezbollah. 

Ms Cooper today warned Lebanon must be included in the Iran ceasefire or it could ‘destabilise the whole region’.

But Trump insisted that Lebanon was not part of the peace deal, describing its conflict with Israel as a ‘separate skirmish’. 

Iran’s deputy foreign minister today said his country ‘sent a message’ to the US by closing the Strait in response to the attacks on Lebanon.

Saeed Khatibzadeh told the BBC’s Today programme he is personally ‘very doubtful’ that talks on upholding the ceasefire in the Middle East will lead to a definite agreement.