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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump claimed the US had “total control over the Hormuz Strait,” as Washington and Tehran hardened their stances in deadlocked negotiations over the waterway.
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“We own it,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington late Tuesday. “And at some point, maybe they’ll do something, and then they get blown away.”
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His comments came after Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told reporters in Islamabad that the two sides were “close to some sort of arrangement” over Hormuz, without offering details.
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The escalating rhetoric casts further doubt on the warring sides reaching any immediate deal over the critical waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before they began fighting on Feb. 28. While they agreed a truce in June, intermittent clashes have continued and Qatar and Pakistan have been trying to mediate a lasting end to the conflict.
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Al Jazeera previously reported that talks between Iran and Oman about reopening Hormuz to some maritime shipping had reached an advanced stage, citing a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson. The US isn’t directly party to those negotiations.
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Officials in Tehran have also signaled that Iran and Oman may be nearing an agreement over Hormuz. Mohsen Rezaee, the newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said any agreement with Oman on control over the strait would remain separate from its closure, however, according to a report by state-run IRIB. What conditions Iran may seek to impose on traffic through the waterway also remains unclear.
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Iran conveyed additional conditions to Washington through intermediaries, including demands that the US end the war and unfreeze blocked Iranian assets, IRIB cited Rezaee as saying on Tuesday. The comments followed a meeting with China’s ambassador to Iran, Cong Peiwu, in Tehran.
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“We are definitely at a stalemate,” Wendy Sherman, former US deputy secretary of state, told Bloomberg TV. “Unless the US is ready to either allow Iran and perhaps Oman to have voluntary tolls or to give Iran so much relief from sanctions and frozen assets that it’s worth their while, I don’t think we’ll get it open for any sustainable period of time.”
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“I think the reality is for the foreseeable future, if not forever, Iran will control the Strait of Hormuz,” she added.
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Crude oil continued to climb as traders remain wary of the prospects for a Middle East deal. Global benchmark Brent was up 0.9% at $89.72 per barrel at 7:11 a.m. in London on Wednesday, extending its rally into a sixth day.
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US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a social media post Tuesday that the seven-day average for oil leaving Hormuz is almost 9 million barrels a day, a figure higher than many trader estimates.
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A US Navy helicopter fired two missiles at a Panama-flagged cargo vessel attempting to transit the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, Central Command said in a post on X, adding that the vessel was sailing toward an Iranian port in violation of an American blockade.
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