U.S.-Iran maritime tensions escalated as Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Rezai stated the Strait of Hormuz would not reopen unless the U.S. accepted ceasefire conditions, including unfreezing Iranian assets and ending regional conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza. Mohsen Mehralizadeh, advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, echoed that the strait would remain closed until Tehran’s demands were met. The U.S. military fired missiles at a Panama-flagged cargo vessel en route to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman, claiming it attempted to breach the blockade, and said it had already diverted 55 commercial vessels. Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi vessel and the Egyptian cargo ship "Tihama" in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, causing multiple crew fatalities. Meanwhile, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the biggest problem facing the U.S. economy is prices rising too fast, describing the labor market as “stable but not strong.” Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester noted the Fed might need to raise rates multiple times to bring inflation back to its 2% target. Market attention shifted to the U.S. July CPI report due Wednesday evening Beijing time, with expectations for headline CPI to decline to a year-over-year rate of 3.4% and core CPI easing to 2.5%. CME Group data showed market expectations for a September rate hold versus hike are roughly balanced. The S&P 500 continues to