Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday (30) denounced the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, saying it amounts to continued military action against Iran.
In an English-language post on the social network X, Pezeshkian said that “What is being done under the pretext of a naval blockade is an extension of military operations against a nation that pays the price for its resistance and independence.”
“The continuation of this oppressive approach is intolerable,” he added.
Pezeshkian’s remarks came shortly after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the Trump administration does not need congressional authorization to declare war on Iran, citing the ceasefire that took effect on April 8.
Iranian threat
According to state media, Mohsen Rezaei, top military advisor to Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran .
“If the blockade continues, Iran will respond,” Rezaei said in a televised interview, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported on Thursday morning (30).
“This blockade achieved virtually nothing and they were unable to enforce it. The Indian Ocean is extremely vast and we can cross it easily; we have already done so,” Rezaei added.
His comments came as US President Donald Trump considers an extended blockade of Iranian ports.
Naval blockade
US President Donald Trump has told his top aides in recent days that he wants the US naval blockade of Iranian ports to continue.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN that the White House team has begun laying the groundwork for such an extension, including a long-term closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, for now, is delving into a strategy designed to inflict as much economic damage on Iran as possible, hoping to force Tehran back to the negotiating table without having to resume military strikes, the sources said.
But the strategy for dealing with a war that has already lasted nine weeks is not without risks for the head of the White House, who once predicted that the conflict would last a maximum of six weeks.
The closure of Hormuz raised gasoline prices, contributing to Americans’ fatigue with the ongoing war and driving Trump’s approval ratings, especially regarding his management of the economy, to new lows.
And the cost of the conflict is rising – a senior Pentagon official told lawmakers on Wednesday (29) that the US has already spent $25 billion on the war against Iran. All of this fuels the Republican Party’s anxiety about its prospects in November’s midterm elections.
It is also unclear whether this strategy will work – Iran has already demonstrated the ability to withstand severe economic hardship without giving in to American demands.
Still, Trump appears determined to tighten control over the Iranian economy until Tehran gives in to its red lines on nuclear enrichment, believing, in his words, that the US holds “all the cards.”
“Blockade is a little more effective than bombing. They’re choking like a stuffed pig. And it’s going to get worse for them. They can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told Axios in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
American officials have analyzed intelligence that suggests Iran’s economy will only be able to survive for several more weeks, if not days, before the pressure of the blockade forces its collapse, two people familiar with the negotiations said, pointing to Tehran’s difficulties in storing surplus oil.
Trump suggested it won’t be long before excess oil causes permanent damage to Iran’s energy infrastructure.
“What happens is this pipeline explodes from the inside, both mechanically and underground,” he said Sunday on Fox News.
“Something happens that just explodes. They say they only have about three days before it happens. And when it explodes, you can never rebuild the way it was before.”
The US has intercepted or rerouted nearly 40 ships trying to enter or leave Iranian ports since the blockade began earlier this month. Trump is betting that this pressure will be enough for diplomacy to prevail, the sources familiar with the matter said.
“Iran has just informed us that it is in a ‘State of Collapse,’” Trump posted on social media on Tuesday. “They want us to ‘open the Strait of Hormuz’ as quickly as possible while they try to resolve the leadership situation.”
The same day, Trump met with energy industry executives, where they discussed steps that could be taken to maintain the blockade for months, if necessary, and how to limit the effects on American consumers, White House officials told CNN.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hosted the White House meeting, which was also attended by Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to one of the officials.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth also attended, as did executives from Trafigura, Vitol and Mercuria. The meeting was first reported by Axios.
While the Pentagon continues to prepare in case the president decides to resume his bombing campaign, Trump has already indicated internally that he would prefer to make a deal with the Iranians and avoid further armed attacks, the sources familiar with the matter said.
Trump pointed in private conversations to the risks of resuming the bombing campaign — including the likely resumption of Iranian attacks on Gulf states — suggesting that a blockade was a more effective way to pressure the Iranians to negotiate.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Trump plans to appeal to extend the lockdown.
Still, he continued to make threats. This Wednesday, he published an AI-generated image of himself holding a gun and warning: “ENOUGH WITH BEING NICE”.
Several of the president’s close advisers and allies recognize the potential political risk of maintaining the status quo.
The lockdown has placed enormous pressure on the global economy, with U.S. gasoline prices above $4 per gallon — eliminating a key argument for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
Still, several Trump advisers agree that diplomacy is the best solution to end the war quickly, something Trump had promised when he launched the first attacks on Tehran.
Negotiations to resolve the conflict, however, are practically at a standstill. Trump signaled this week that he was unlikely to accept Iran’s latest proposal to end the conflict, after Tehran presented a plan that would reopen the strait, leaving questions about its nuclear program for later negotiations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview earlier this week that the new Iranian proposal was “better than we thought they would come up with” but emphasized that a future deal must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Suffice it to say, the nuclear issue is why we’re in this in the first place,” he told Fox News on Monday, adding that Iran’s nuclear program “is still the central issue here.”
Two people familiar with the matter said Trump expressed his views during a meeting Monday with senior national security officials in which Iran was discussed. One of these people said that the president would probably not accept the proposal.
Reopening the strait without resolving questions about Iran’s nuclear enrichment or its stockpile of nearly bomb-worthy uranium could eliminate a key piece of American leverage in negotiations, officials said.
After Monday’s meeting, it was unclear what Trump’s next steps would be.
American officials say they remain concerned about what they see as disagreements with the Iranian regime and are unsure who holds the final decision-making power over a possible deal.
For now, officials say they are awaiting a response from Iran on a modified proposal that has the approval of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the start of the war.
