Iran says talks continue while it retains control of Strait of Hormuz

Iran ratcheted up its rhetoric against the U.S. on Sunday, a day after it said it had reasserted control of the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump confirmed peace talks with Iran are continuing, while warning Tehran not to try to use blackmail.

Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said talks to end the war with the U.S. and Israel are continuing but that his country stands ready to resume the conflict and warned the U.S. against using a naval blockade against its ships in the strait.

“It is not the case that we think just because we are negotiating, the armed forces are not ready,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in televised remarks late Saturday according to a report on Iranian state media. “Rather, just as the people are in the streets, our armed forces are also ready.”

Ghalibaf also reiterated Iran’s intentions to restrict traffic through the strait, a key energy chokepoint.

“It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz but not us. If the U.S. does not abandon the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be restricted,” he said.

Trump announced the blockade on April 12, after complaining that Tehran has not appeared to reopen the strait, one of his conditions for agreeing to the fragile two-week ceasefire that is currently in effect.

Two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the strait, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said Saturday. It reported the tanker and crew as safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination.

Shipping ​sources told Reuters at least two other vessels reported coming under fire while trying to transit the waterway.

The confusion over the strait’s status has left ship operators in a state of limbo.

Video footage from ship-tracking firm Kpler showed that several tankers and cargo ships attempted to exit the waterway on Friday but turned back.

Oil prices plunged more than 10% on Friday to below $90 per barrel on hopes that energy supplies would start flowing again from the region. About a fifth of the world’s crude supplies passed through the strait before the war. The closure of the sea lane connecting the Persian Gulf to global energy markets has triggered the largest oil supply disruption in history.

In Mumbai, India summoned Iran’s ambassador after an Indian-flagged vessel carrying ⁠crude oil was attacked while trying to cross the strait, Reuters reported.

In a White House event on Saturday. Trump declined to take reporters’ questions about Iran but said, “We have very good conversations going on.”

He said Iran “got a little cute,” later adding, “They wanted to close up the strait again,” referring to the Strait of Hormuz.

“They can’t blackmail us,” Trump said.