Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed his country's rising inflation directly on the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and sanctions cutting off oil revenues, telling state television that the destruction of industrial facilities had also drained government income. His remarks came as both sides showed no sign of returning to peace talks after a tentative June deal collapsed.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi set the tone for Tehran's public posture early Saturday, declaring the Strait of Hormuz open or closed solely at Iran's direction. "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," Gharibabadi said. He dismissed U.S. pressure as ineffective, saying the waterway "cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech."
The strait carried one in every five barrels of the world's oil exports before the United States and Israel launched military operations on Feb. 28. Ship-tracking firm Kpler counted just two vessels transiting the waterway on Friday: a grain ship entering Iranian waters and an empty dry bulk carrier heading in the opposite direction. A third vessel, an empty liquefied petroleum products tanker, was also sailing into the Gulf through the strait. No crude oil shipments were visible in the data.
Before the war, more than 130 ships crossed the strait daily. Ships that attempt the passage without Iranian clearance face missile or drone strikes. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the state energy firm of the United Arab Emirates, said two of its vessels were attacked while transiting the strait Thursday evening. The Emirati state news agency WAM reported a third vessel came under attack Friday.
Iran labels its enforcement of the waterway a blockade. The United States applies the same word to its threat against Iranian vessels leaving Iranian ports—a semantic standoff that reflects the sharper military one.
On the American side, President Donald Trump told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that paying "a tiny little bit more for your gasoline" is a worthwhile cost to prevent what he called "a very evil country" from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Nuclear disarmament has been one of the president's stated justifications for the conflict. Trump also said a 260-day aircraft carrier deployment supporting the war effort was "not nearly long enough," and described the broader operation as "a great service for the world."
U.S. pump prices have risen sharply since the war began. The average gallon of regular gasoline cost $4.08 on Friday, according to the American Automobile Association, up 29 percent from $3.16 a year earlier. That increase has fed into broader inflation and drawn voter frustration.
Iran is absorbing its own economic punishment. Pezeshkian said publicly that not a single barrel of Iranian oil had been exported because of the U.S. blockade—a candid admission that drew a sharp rebuke from inside Iran. The conservative website Alef ran a headline reading "President, the Enemy Can Hear You Too," and one reader commented that discussing the absence of oil exports and military support for peace talks "does not send a good message to the enemy." Iranian officials have separately warned that mounting economic pressure risks fueling public unrest, and analysts tracking the situation say Tehran is desperate for sanctions relief.
The June deal that had briefly pointed toward a ceasefire is now described by both sides as finished. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi gave no indication that talks were resuming, and there was no corresponding signal from Washington. The gap between the two positions—Iran demanding the U.S. accept defeat, Trump calling the country evil and vowing to press on—leaves little visible ground for negotiation.
With crude tanker traffic effectively halted, oil-importing nations that relied on Gulf producers have been forced to seek alternatives. The UAE attacks underscore that the risk is not theoretical: state-owned energy companies are losing vessels to strikes on a waterway that was, before Feb. 28, among the world's most heavily trafficked.
