Guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115) enforces the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports against M\/T Stream after it attempted to sail to an Iranian port, April 26, 2026. U.S. Central Command Photo<\/p>\n
Trump Discusses Sustaining Iran Blockade for Months as Oil Prices Surge<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON\/DUBAI\/ISLAMABAD, April 29 (Reuters)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0discussed how to mitigate the impact of a possible months-long U.S. blockade of Iran\u2019s\u00a0ports with oil companies, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the U.S. president urged Tehran to \u201cget smart soon\u201d and sign a deal.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s talks with oil executives followed a deadlock in efforts to resolve\u00a0the conflict, which has led the United States to try to squeeze Iran\u2019s oil exports with a naval blockade aimed at forcing it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to\u00a0shipping.<\/p>\n
While Washington and Tehran traded public threats, mediator Pakistan was trying to avoid escalation while the two sides continue to exchange messages on a potential deal, a Pakistani source told Reuters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Trump has said Iran can call if it wants to talk and, in a post on Truth Social earlier on Wednesday, said Tehran \u201ccouldn\u2019t get its act together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president and the oil executives \u201cdiscussed the steps President Trump has taken to alleviate global oil markets and steps we could take to continue the current blockade for\u00a0months if needed\u00a0and minimize impact on American consumers,\u201d the White House official said.<\/p>\n
Oil prices rose\u00a0more than 6% on Wednesday, with the Brent contract hitting a one-month high, on the prospect of a lengthy blockade.<\/p>\n
The war has cost the U.S. military $25 billion so far, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday, providing the first official estimate of the price tag for the conflict.<\/p>\n
Iran has pledged to continue disrupting traffic through the strait as long as it is threatened, which may mean more Middle East oil supply disruptions from the conflict, which has killed thousands and caused global economic upheaval.<\/p>\n
Tehran warned on Wednesday of \u201cunprecedented military action\u201d against continued U.S. blockading of Iran-linked vessels. Trump has said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, while Tehran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t know how to sign a non-nuclear deal. They\u2019d better get smart soon!\u201d Trump said in the social media post, without explaining what such a deal would entail.<\/p>\n
The post featured a mock-up image of him in dark glasses and wielding a machine gun with the caption \u201cNo more Mr. Nice Guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
URANIUM DISPUTE, ECONOMY UNDER PRESSURE<\/p>\n
Iran wants U.S. acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful, civilian purposes. It has a stockpile of about 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60%, material that could be used for several nuclear weapons if further enriched.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said Trump was trying to divide Iranians and force Iran to surrender through the blockade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solution for confronting the enemy\u2019s new conspiracy is only one thing: maintaining unity, which has been the bane of all the enemy\u2019s conspiracies,\u201d Qalibaf said in an audio message on Telegram.<\/p>\n
Iran has executed at least 21 people since the start of the war with the United States and Israel two months ago, and arrested more than 4,000 on national security-related charges, U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In a sign of the economic toll the war is taking on Iran\u2019s economy, its currency\u00a0fell to a record low\u00a0on Wednesday, the Iranian Students\u2019 News Agency said. Inflation for the month from March 20 to April 20 was 65.8%, the central bank said, a trend likely to be exacerbated by the currency\u2019s plunge.<\/p>\n
IRAN WANTS FORMAL END TO CONFLICT FIRST<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s latest offer for resolving the war, suspended since April 8 under a ceasefire agreement, would set aside discussion of its nuclear program until the conflict is formally ended and\u00a0shipping\u00a0issues resolved. That did not meet Trump\u2019s demand to address the nuclear issue at the outset.<\/p>\n
The Pakistani source said the U.S. had shared \u201cobservations\u201d on the Iranian proposal and it was now up to Iran to respond. \u201cIranians asked for time till the end of the week,\u201d the source told Reuters.<\/p>\n
U.S. intelligence agencies, at the request of senior administration officials, are studying how Iran would respond if Trump were to declare a unilateral victory, two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Tehran has largely blocked all\u00a0shipping\u00a0apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global energy supplies, since the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on February 28. This month, the U.S. began blockading Iranian ships.<\/p>\n
Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power since several senior Iranian political and military figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,\u00a0were killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n
The elevation of Khamenei\u2019s wounded son, Mojtaba, to replace him\u00a0has handed more power to hardline commanders\u00a0of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian officials and analysts say.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Trump is under domestic pressure to end a war for which he has given shifting rationales to a U.S. public struggling with surging gasoline prices. His approval rating fell to the lowest level of his current term, according to a\u00a0Reuters\/Ipsos poll, which showed 34% of Americans approve of his performance, down from 36% in the prior survey.<\/p>\n
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to defend the Iran war in fiery remarks to Congress, saying it was not a quagmire and attacking Democratic lawmakers as \u201cfeckless\u201d for criticizing the unpopular conflict.<\/p>\n