President Donald Trump discussed how to mitigate the impact of a possible months-long U.S. blockade of Iran's ports with oil companies, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the U.S. renewed its calls for other nations to help open the Strait of Hormuz.
Tuesday's talks with oil executives followed a deadlock in efforts to resolve the conflict, which has led the United States to try to squeeze Iran's oil exports with a naval blockade aimed at forcing it to reopen the Strait to shipping.
As Washington and Tehran traded public threats, mediator Pakistan was trying to avoid escalation while the two sides exchange messages on a potential deal, a Pakistani source told Reuters on Wednesday.
Trump has said Iran can call if it wants to talk and, in a post on Truth Social earlier on Wednesday, said Tehran "couldn't get its act together."
He and the oil executives "discussed the steps President Trump has taken to alleviate global oil markets and steps we could take to continue the current blockade for months if needed and minimize impact on American consumers," the White House official said.
Oil prices rose more than 6% on Wednesday, with the Brent contract hitting a one-month high on prospects of a lengthy blockade.
The war has cost the U.S. military $25 billion so far, a senior Pentagon official said, providing the first official estimate of the price tag for the conflict.
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 a conflict that has killed thousands and brought global economic upheaval.
With talks stalled, Trump is set to receive a briefing on Thursday on new plans for potential military action from the leader of the U.S. Central Command, Axios said.
Tehran warned on Wednesday of "unprecedented military action" 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.
"They don't know how to sign a non-nuclear deal. They'd better get smart soon!" Trump said in the social media post, without explaining what such a deal would entail.
The post featured a mock-up image of him wearing dark glasses and wielding a machinegun, captioned, "No more Mr. Nice Guy."
The United States is asking other countries to join a new international coalition that would enable ships to navigate the Strait of Hormuz after traffic through the waterway stalled, according to an internal State Dept cable seen by Reuters.
The proposed coalition, dubbed the "Maritime Freedom Construct", would share information, coordinate diplomatically and help enforce sanctions, the cable showed.
France, Britain and other countries have held talks on contributing to such a coalition but said they are only willing to help open the Strait, a chokepoint for global energy supplies, after hostilities cease.
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 kg (970 lbs) of uranium enriched to 60%, which could be used for several nuclear weapons if further enriched.
Iran's parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said Trump was trying to divide Iranians and force Iran to surrender through the blockade.
"The solution for confronting the enemy's new conspiracy is only one thing: maintaining unity, which has been the bane of all the enemy's conspiracies," Qalibaf said in an audio message on messaging app Telegram.
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 charges related to national security, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday.
In a sign of the toll the war is taking on Iran's economy, its currency fell to a record low on Wednesday, the Iranian Students' News Agency said. Inflation stood at 65.8% for the month to April 20, the central bank said.
Iran's latest offer for resolving the war, suspended since 8 April under a ceasefire deal, would set aside discussion of its nuclear programme until the conflict is formally ended and shipping issues resolved.
That did not meet Trump's demand to tackle the nuclear issue at the outset.
The Pakistani source said the United States had shared "observations" on the Iranian proposal and it was now up to Iran to respond. "(The) Iranians asked for time till the end of the week," the source told Reuters.
U.S. intelligence agencies, tasked by 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.
Tehran has largely blocked all shipping apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, since the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on 28 February. This month, the U.S. began blockading Iranian ships.
Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power since the strikes killed several senior political and military figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The elevation of Khamenei's wounded son, Mojtaba, to replace him has handed more power to hardline commanders of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian officials and analysts say.
Meanwhile, Trump faces domestic pressure to end a war for which he has given shifting rationales to a U.S. public struggling with surging gasoline prices.
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Turkish authorities have launched an investigation into a passenger bus crash in southwestern Türkiye that killed eight people and injured 33 others over the weekend.
Okinawa lost transport links and suffered widespread power outages on Monday (1 June) as Severe Tropical Storm Jangmi brought destructive winds and heavy rain to Japan's south-western islands.
Thai investigators seized more than 100 protected wildlife remains after raiding a souvenir and traditional medicine shop accused of selling wildlife carcasses online.
Japan has released crested ibises into the wild on Honshu for the first time, marking a major conservation milestone in the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture.
U.S. rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, performed to a crowd of 118,000 people in Istanbul on Saturday night, marking his first concert in Europe in more than a decade, despite being barred from performing in several countries over past antisemitic remarks.
Iranian-made Yassin missiles were spotted mounted on Armenian Air Force fighter aircraft during Armenia's latest military parade on Thursday (28 May), drawing attention from defence observers and regional analysts.
The Philippines remains under a "severe threat" from China despite recent efforts by Washington and Beijing to ease tensions, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Saturday (30 May).
Okinawa lost transport links and suffered widespread power outages on Monday (1 June) as Severe Tropical Storm Jangmi brought destructive winds and heavy rain to Japan's south-western islands.
Russia has recalled its ambassador to Armenia for consultations, citing Yerevan's growing rapprochement with the European Union. The move is seen as the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the longtime allies ahead of Armenia's parliamentary election on 7 June.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Monday they targeted the source of an attack on a telecom facility on Sirik Island near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Iran really wanted to make a deal with the U.S. and that it would be a good one for Washington and its allies, President Donald Trump said on Monday.
Iran has strongly condemned U.S. threats to impose sanctions on and bomb Oman following reported talks between Muscat and Tehran on jointly overseeing the Strait of Hormuz, reiterating that the Islamic Republic’s actions in the strategic waterway are “lawful”.
The United States has warned Oman against supporting any effort to impose tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Washington would penalise any parties involved in facilitating such a system.
The Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps of Iran (IRGC) said it carried out a retaliatory attack on a U.S. airbase in the early hours of Thursday. The airbase was used to target a ground control station on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport in Hormuzgan Province, which faces the Strait of Hormuz.
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