US President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will hit Iran hard economically, as Washington and Tehran struggle to reach a deal to end a nearly six month conflict.
His comments to Fox News came a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US was going to apply measures that have “never been seen” on Tehran as soon as next week.
The US leader also said he would “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz to be US territory.
“Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States. It’s true,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state. It was unclear whether he was speaking seriously.
Responding to Trump, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran would not be intimidated by threats or a show of force, adding that Hormuz would only be opened or closed under Iran’s authority.
“As long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” Gharibabadi write in a post on X, showing little urgency toward restoring prewar trade. “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech.”
Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Friday after two more ships were attacked there and the United States declared it could maintain the naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, with two the countries still locked in a stalemate over control of the key water and the Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Friday that no decision had been made to resume negotiations with the United States, the Iranian Student News Agency reported. He added that mediators Qatar and Pakistan were in contact with Iran and exchanging messages, but that this did not amount to negotiations building on a June agreement to end the war.
Amid the drop in the amount of oil being shipped through the strait, Trump on Friday urged Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices as the cost of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The comments underscored the growing political risk for Trump as higher fuel prices collide with his campaign promise to lower energy costs, with Democrats already seeking to make the economic fallout from the Iran war an issue heading into the November midterm elections.
A day earlier, Vice President JD Vance stated that preventing a nuclear Iran was the administration’s secondary goal, after “keep[ing] oil and gasoline cheap for Americans.”
Oil prices have risen this week, with Brent crude approaching $90 a barrel, while US gasoline prices have climbed to around $4 a gallon.
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