Iran has demanded that the United States acknowledge defeat, while President Donald Trump described Tehran as “very evil” and warned Americans to expect fuel prices to remain elevated because of the war.
Efforts to move toward peace talks remained stalled, as did oil tanker traffic through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. There was no indication that either side was preparing to bring the conflict, launched by the US and Israel on 28 February, to an end.
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“This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran’s command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X this morning.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran had made no decision to restart negotiations with Washington. In an interview with Iranian news outlet Shahrara News, he said the US would have to meet Iran’s demands over the strait before shipping could resume through the waterway, which carried one-fifth of the world’s oil before the war.
Speaking at a political rally in Garden City, New York, yesterday, Mr Trump said paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” was a price worth bearing to prevent “a very evil country” from obtaining a nuclear weapon — one of the rationales the US President has given for the war.
US President Donald Trump urged Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices
The pressure on motorists has already become a political liability, with inflation concerns mounting and voters expressing disappointment. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the US stood at about $4.08 yesterday, 29% higher than a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.
Mr Trump, a Republican, won reelection after pledging to bring down energy costs. Democrats are now working to turn the economic consequences of the war into an issue in November’s congressional elections.
“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech,” Mr Gharibabadi said.
Iran’s defiance, however, has not shielded its own economy from mounting pressure.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said in remarks broadcast on state television that high inflation was being driven by a US blockade of Iranian ports and sanctions targeting the country’s oil exports.
Mr Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent separately promised to increase the financial pressure on Iran.
Mr Bessent said Washington would announce additional measures against Tehran next week.
Tehran describes its restrictions on traffic through the strait as a blockade — the same term Washington uses for its threat to Iranian vessels attempting to leave their ports.
“What we’re doing is a great service for the world, not only for ourselves … and we’re really doing a great job,” Mr Trump said. He also argued that a 260-day deployment by a US aircraft carrier supporting the war effort had been “not nearly long enough.”
Only two vessels passed through strait yesterday
Just two vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, and no crude oil shipments were observed, according to an analysis by ship-tracking company Kpler.
Some vessels may have made the crossing with their transponders switched off, making them harder to detect. Even so, the recorded traffic is a fraction of the more than 130 ships that passed through the strait each day before the war.
Ships attempting the route without Iranian approval face the threat of missile and drone attacks. The United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said two of its vessels were attacked while transiting the strait on Thursday evening, while Emirati state news agency WAM reported that another vessel came under attack yesterday.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said a bulk carrier was hit in its hull by an unidentified projectile in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. Its crew was safe, the centre said, although no damage assessment had been issued and the environmental consequences remained unknown.
A tentative June deal to end the war is in tatters.
“We did not have a ceasefire in the first place that we would now want to extend,” Mr Araqchi said. “We had ‘the end of the war,’ and now there is a new situation.”
Renewed attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have raised fresh fears that the conflict could spread across the region. Yemen’s internationally recognised government said the Houthis launched six ballistic missiles at the Red Sea port of Mocha yesterday, killing four civilians.
The Houthi-run SABA news agency, citing a military source, reported that the group had used a drone to target an Aramco facility in the Saudi city of Najran.
