Iran blames US as truce talks reach a deadlock

As the US-Iran ceasefire was unilaterally extended on Washington's terms and attacks and counterattacks continue to disrupt normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has blamed the United States for the negotiations reaching a stalemate.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always welcomed and continues to welcome dialogue and agreement," Pezeshkian said in a social media post on Wednesday. "Bad faith, siege and threats are the main obstacles to genuine negotiation. The world is witnessing your hypocritical empty talk and the contradiction between your claims and your actions."

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said on social media that he had ordered the US Navy to "shoot and kill" small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz. "There is to be no hesitation," he added.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the White House pointed to the lack of a unified response from the Iranian side, and said that it is for Trump to "ultimately dictate" when the extension to the ceasefire with Iran will end. "We see a lot of different messaging and rhetoric," said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary.

Leavitt said the US maintains control over the situation and leverage over the Iranian regime. "Not only have they been significantly weakened and obliterated militarily, but they are losing economically and financially every single moment that passes with this blockade. So the president is going to continue to lead the free world, to run the United States of America as we await the Iranian response," she added.

Iran's parliament and its Supreme National Security Council are jointly reviewing a proposed plan to assert sovereign control over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on Thursday. Fada Hossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said that both the legislative body and the council are examining proposals on the strategic waterway.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a social media post that a complete ceasefire "only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime blockade and the hostage-taking of the world's economy".

Ghalibaf said that reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such a flagrant breach of the truce. "They did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying. The only way forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation," he added.

On Thursday, the Islamic Republic News Agency and Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting released the first footage showing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy seizing a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, countering claims made by the Trump administration that Iran no longer has a navy. The IRGC said it seized two foreign vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and opened fire on a third for violating its restrictions on shipping through the waterway.

Hamidreza Haji-Babaei, Iran's second deputy speaker of parliament, said the first revenue collected through tolls imposed on vessels passing through the strait was deposited in the Central Bank of Iran, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, the US Central Command said that US forces have directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of Washington's blockade against Iran. It said that most of the vessels asked to turn around were oil tankers, and that a majority of them have complied with US orders.

The Washington Post reported that a Pentagon assessment said it could take six months to clear the strait of Iranian-laid mines, which would keep oil prices high.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the world has been losing 13 million barrels of oil supply per day amid the conflict.