Iran defiant on strait as Trump tells Americans to accept high gas prices

CAIRO: Iran called on the US to accept defeat while President Donald Trump blasted Iran as “evil” and urged Americans to brace for continued high fuel prices. 

The comments suggested the warring parties remained far apart, with progress towards peace talks and oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway both halted.

“This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran’s command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X early Saturday (Aug 15), showing little urgency towards restoring prewar trade.

“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech,” he said. 

One out of every five barrels of the world’s oil exports passed through the strait before the US and Israel launched the war on Feb 28. 

Trump on Friday urged Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices while the conflict with Iran continues. 

At a political rally in Garden City, New York, Trump said paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” is worth the cost of ensuring “a very evil country” could not have a nuclear weapon, one of the president’s stated rationales for the war. 

In a trend that has fuelled inflation and disappointed voters, the average US price of a gallon of gasoline was about US$4.08 on Friday, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s up 29 per cent from $3.16 a year earlier.

Only two vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, according to analysis from ship-tracking firm Kpler: a grain ship entering Iranian waters and an empty dry bulk ship going the other direction. 

A separate empty liquefied petroleum products tanker was sailing into the Gulf via the strait, the data showed. There were no crude oil shipments visible.

Some ships may cross the strait undetected with their transponders off, but the figures are nowhere near the more than 130 ships that traversed it daily before the war.