US, Iran fight verbal duel as truce teeters on brink
Iran and the US appeared locked in a prolonged war of attrition, as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf issued near-identical statements on Thursday asserting national unity following US President Donald Trump's claim that Iran's leadership was divided by internal infighting.
The US president expressed frustration with Iran's leadership as he awaited a "unified" proposal to end the war.
"Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don't know! The infighting between the 'Hardliners,' who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the 'Moderates,' who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY!" Trump posted on Truth Social as he said he was awaiting a "unified" proposal from Iran to end the war.
Pezeshkian and Ghalibaf seemed to respond with a uniform message in separate posts on X. "In Iran, there are no radicals or moderates," they wrote.
"We are all 'Iranian' and 'revolutionary', and with the iron unity of the nation and government, with complete obedience to the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, we will make the aggressor criminal regret his actions," the two officials said.
The US president said that he is under no pressure to quickly reach a deal with Iran to end the war, arguing that time favors the United States and not Iran.
"I am possibly the least pressured person ever to be in this position. I have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn't - The clock is ticking!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social about ending the conflict.
The president again described Iran's military position as significantly weakened, saying: "Iran's Navy is lying at the bottom of the Sea, their Air Force is demolished, their Anti Aircraft and Radar Weaponry is gone, their leaders are no longer with us, the Blockade is airtight and strong and, from there, it only gets worse - Time is not on their side!"
The president continued to say that any agreement to end the war would be made on US terms and his timeline, emphasizing that a deal will come only "when it's appropriate and good" for the United States, as well as "our Allies and, in fact, the rest of the World."
The US president also said that he would not use a nuclear weapon in the war against Iran. "Why would I use a nuclear weapon? We've totally, in a very conventional way, decimated them without it," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked whether he would use such a weapon.
"No, I wouldn't use it. A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody," he added.
Asked how long he was willing to wait for a long-term peace deal with Iran, Trump said, "Don't rush me."
He said Iran might have loaded up their weaponry "a little bit" during the two-week ceasefire, but added that the US military could knock that out in about one day.
"Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone ...maybe they loaded up a little bit during the two-week hiatus, but we'll knock that out about one day, if they did," Trump added.
"I want to make the best deal. I could make a deal right now ... but I don't want to do that. I want to have it everlasting," Trump said.
The president said he has ordered the US Navy to "shoot and kill" any Iranian boats placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran's top negotiator said Tehran received its first revenue from tolls it imposed on ships passing through the strait. Both sides see the vital waterway as pivotal to negotiations, and oil prices have risen further during the standoff.
Moreover, two dry bulk carriers crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, according to the trade analytics company Kpler.
One of the carriers, Tema Express, is owned and operated by Hapag-Lloyd – making this the first confirmed transit of the strait by a vessel operated by the German carrier since the start of the conflict, Rebecca Gerdes, a data analyst at Kpler, told CNN.
Sailing under Liberia's flag, Tema Express reappeared off the coast of Oman after being dark for nearly three weeks, Gerdes said.
The other ship that crossed the strait – LB Energy – is sailing under Panama's flag.
Traffic through the strait has remained a trickle as carriers have been hesitant to transit the waterway, largely due to security concerns.
Iran has also imposed tolls on ships passing through the strait, sparking international backlash.
Iran flaunted its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday with video of its commandos storming a huge cargo ship, after the collapse of peace talks that Washington had hoped would open the world's most important shipping corridor.
Iranian state television broadcast footage overnight of masked troops pulling up in a grey speedboat alongside the MSC Francesca, climbing a rope ladder to a shell door in the hull and jumping through brandishing rifles.
The footage, presented with an action-movie-style soundtrack and no commentary, also included views of another ship, the Epaminondas. Iran said it had captured both on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to cross the strait without permits.
Air defence systems were heard engaging what were described as "hostile targets" in parts of the Iranian capital Tehran on Thursday evening, Iran's Mehr news agency reported, after earlier reports that air defence batteries had been activated in the city.
It was not clear what was being targeted but the reports drove oil prices sharply higher.
The war, launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28, has been paused since a ceasefire on April 8 but Israel warned on Thursday that it was ready to restart attacks.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel was waiting for a "green light" from the U.S. to resume the war, saying that if it did, it would begin by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and "return Iran to a dark age".
"This time the attack will be different and deadly, delivering devastating blows in the most sensitive places," he said in a statement released by his office.
STRUGGLE FOR THE STRAIT
With the attacks on hold, attention has shifted to the shipping lanes off the coast of Iran.
Tehran says it will not consider opening the Strait of Hormuz, normally the route for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, until the U.S. lifts its blockade of Iran's shipping, which Washington imposed during the ceasefire and Tehran calls a violation of that truce.
In a social media post, U.S. President Donald Trump said it was Washington that was in "total control" of the strait, which he described as "'Sealed up Tight,' until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!".
Trump and his military officials have said Iran's navy is "at the bottom of the sea," but Tehran's speedboats show that it can still wreak havoc on shipping.
Washington, which has been confronting Iranian ships in international waters to enforce its blockade, said it had boarded another tanker, the Majestic, in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, an apparent reference to a supertanker last reported off the coast of Sri Lanka carrying 2 million barrels of crude.
US forces have redirected 33 vessels since the blockade began, the military said on Thursday.
Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said the merchant vessels Iran had seized had "faced the law", while Iranian speedboats and marine drones were sheltering in sea caves off an island keeping the U.S. Navy from approaching.
The vice speaker of Iran's parliament, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, said the first revenue from a toll Iran was now collecting from ships using the strait had been transferred to the central bank. He gave no further details about who had paid it or how much.
'NEITHER PEACE NOR WAR'
Trump cancelled threats to restart attacks on Iran in the ceasefire's final hours on Tuesday. There has been no formal extension of the ceasefire, and no plans have been announced for further talks.
Iranians, who endured six weeks of U.S. and Israeli bombardment before the ceasefire on April 8, described a nerve-wracking environment under threat of renewed attack.
"In a situation that is neither peace nor war, things are somewhat frightening. At every moment, you think that Israel or the U.S. might launch an attack," Arash, 35, a government employee in Tehran, told Reuters by phone.
Pakistan, which hosted talks this month and had been preparing for a second round before it was called off on Tuesday, was still in touch with both sides, a Pakistani government source said. Iranian officials were still declining to commit to attend over the US blockade, the source added.
The US was separately due to host a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, with Lebanon seeking an extension of a ceasefire reached last week in a war that has run in parallel to the Iran war.
GLOBAL ECONOMY FEELS CHILL
The global economy is facing ever more tangible strains from the energy shock as factories grapple with soaring production costs and activity weakens even in services sectors, major surveys showed on Thursday.
So far, Washington has not achieved the aims Trump set out at the war's start: to deprive Iran of the capability to attack its neighbours, end its nuclear programme and make it easier for its people to overthrow their government.
Iran has retained missiles and drones that can hit its neighbours, and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Its rulers, who killed thousands to put down a popular uprising in January, have faced no organised opposition since the war began. (With input from News Desk)