A defiant Iran has said the United States and should accept defeat and President Donald Trump termed Iran as evil as the war of words and the Middle East conflict continues unabated.
"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 said in a post on X early Saturday.
Iran's defiance is seen as a sign of proclaiming to the global community that Tehran has no urgency to end the war engulfing the Middle East and stoking inflationary concerns.
The main contentious point seems to have drifted to the Strait of Hormuz, from the earlier US aim of dismantling Iran's nuclear program.
The Strait was a free trade route through which a fifth of the world's energy cargoes were routed before the conflict began following the US-Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28.
"The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech," Gharibabadi said in the post.
One out of every five barrels of the world's oil exports passed through the strait before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on February 28. After Iran effectively shut the Strait, oil prices surged to as high as $120 a barrel. Though it dipped after a ceasefire announcement, after hostilities resumed in the Middle East oil prices have again edged up.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump asked Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices, indicating that he doen't really see an end to the conflict with Iran in the short term. Trump's statement came at a political rally in New York, where he said paying "a tiny little bit more for your gasoline" is worth the cost of ensuring "a very evil country" could not have a nuclear weapon.
It remains to be seen how far this political messaging resonates with a seemingly angry electorate as the nation gears up for midterm polls in November. Iran is also seen as increasingly belligerent in the recent past as indicated by the hostile statements emanating from Tehran.
"Once and for all, accept the reality: up to this point, you have suffered strategic and heavy defeats... As long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and cease your fanciful delusions, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade," Gharibabadi said in the post.
Iran's Foreign Minister also made known Tehran's point of view that the US has miscalculated in spurring the Middle East conflict and initiating a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
"The U.S. has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures. Case in point: The war on Iran. Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait of Hormuz," Abbas Araghchi posted on X.
The US has reportedly activated backroom channels. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has had talks with Greece and Austria. Though the US has said it had not prodded any such mediatory efforts, media outlets reported that Washington is making all efforts to activate all channels to influence decision making in Iran, rather than relying solely on Qatari and Pakistani mediators.
A military solution is not seen as a possibility, but the warring parties are unwilling to acknowledge this. Till that happens, peace will remain elusive.
