(NBC News)— A defiant Iran called on the U.S. to “accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in delusions” after President Donald Trump suggested that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory of the United States.”
The crucial waterway that handled one-fifth of the world’s oil before the war “cannot be seized with a tweet, nor with an aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor through an election speech,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X early Saturday.
“This strait will only be opened and closed under Iran’s command, and as long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in delusions, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” he added.
With oil tanker traffic through the strategic strait at a trickle and peace talks between the U.S. and Iran at an impasse, there are few signs that the war, launched on Feb. 28, is close to being over.
A 60-day negotiating period intended to hammer out a deal to end the conflict, set when Trump and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June, ends on Monday with few direct negotiations having taken place.
Speaking Friday at a police academy in Nassau County, New York, Trump said Iran was being “very badly defeated,” and once victory was secured, “pretty soon, I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”
Urging Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices, he told the crowd of law enforcement officers that “a tiny little bit more” at the pump was worth the cost of ensuring “a very evil country” could not have a nuclear weapon, one of his stated reasons for the war.
Global oil and gas markets have calmed since prices spiked at the start of the war, but prices are still significantly higher than before the conflict, and rose again early Friday. Crude oil futures rose $1 a barrel on Friday while benchmark Brent futures were on track for a weekly rise of 6.0%, Reuters reported Saturday.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains a trickle of the 130-140 vessels that typically traverse it during peacetime. Only two vessels passed through the strait on Friday, with no crude oil shipments visible, according to analysis from ship-tracking firm Kpler.
While some ships have turned their transponders off and risked crossing undetected, Iran continues to fire on ships attempting to transit despite the U.S. blockade of the Islamic Republic’s ports.
A bulk carrier was struck in the hull by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said on Saturday. The organization run by the British navy that helps protect commercial shipping in high-risk areas added that the crew was safe, although no damage assessment had been reported and the environmental impact was unknown.
Vice President JD Vance, who has been tasked with leading negotiations to end the war, told Fox News on Thursday that the No. 1 goal was to “keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.” He added that “obviously goal No. 2 is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.” Tehran has repeatedly insisted it has no desire to develop one.
Trump and his team have offered various reasons for the conflict, initially saying they wanted to support mass antigovernment protests, before prioritizing a desire to end Iran’s nuclear program and topple the hard-line Islamic regime.
In an interview with Iran’s Shahrara News published Friday, the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there were “no negotiations currently taking place between Tehran and Washington.”
Qatar and Pakistan, as mediators, were exchanging messages and remained in contact with Iran, “but this does not at all constitute negotiations,” he said. “No decision has yet been taken to resume talks with America.”
