By Eman Abouhassira, Enas Alashray and Humeyra Pamuk
DUBAI/CAIRO/GARDEN CITY, New York, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Iran called on the U.S. to accept defeat on Saturday, while President Donald Trump blasted Tehran as "very evil" and told Americans to prepare for continued high fuel prices as a result of the war.
Progress towards peace talks and oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz remained halted, with no sign the warring parties were moving toward ending the conflict that the U.S. and Israel
launched on February 28.
"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 posted on X.
U.S. GASOLINE UP 29% ON YEAR, IRAN ALSO FEELS IMPACT
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran had not decided to resume talks with the U.S. He told Iranian news outlet Shahrara News in an interview published on Saturday that Washington must meet conditions on the strait in order for shipping to resume in the waterway that handled one-fifth of the world's oil before the war.
Trump urged Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices while the conflict continues.
He told a political rally in Garden City, New York, on Friday that 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 his stated rationales for the war.
"After we finish defeating Iran ... pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," said Trump.
Throughout the conflict, the president has alternated between threats of escalation and assertions that a peace deal is imminent.
In a trend that has sparked inflation and disappointed voters, the average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline was about $4.08 on Friday, up 29% from a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.
Trump, a Republican, campaigned for reelection on a promise to lower energy costs, and Democrats are seeking to make the war's fallout an issue in November congressional elections.
Crude oil futures rose $1 a barrel on Friday. Benchmark Brent futures were on track for a weekly rise of 6.0% and West Texas Intermediate 5.4%.
Tehran, too, has stepped up its rhetoric in recent days as attempts to bring a permanent end to the war appear deadlocked.
"The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech," Gharibabadi said.
Despite Iran's defiant tone, though, there were also signs of an economic toll there.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, in remarks on state television, blamed high inflation on a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and sanctions on Iran's oil exports.
NO CRUDE OIL VESSELS TRANSITING STRAIT
Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent each pledged to inflict more financial damage on Iran. Bessent told Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" program on Thursday that announcements of more measures against Iran were coming next week.
Tehran calls its enforcement of strait traffic a blockade – the term Washington uses for its threat against Iranian vessels leaving their ports.
"What we're doing is a great service for the world, not only for ourselves ... and we're really doing a great job," Trump said.
Only two vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday with no crude oil shipments visible, according to analysis from ship-tracking firm Kpler. 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.
Vessels that dare navigate the strait without Iranian permission risk missile or drone strikes.
The UAE accused Iran of attacking a third vessel operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company that was transiting the strait on Friday, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported, after blaming it for two other incidents involving ADNOC vessels in the strait on Thursday evening.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported a bulk carrier was struck in the hull by an unknown projectile in the strait on Friday. It was not immediately clear if it was referring to the same incident involving the ADNOC vessel.
A tentative June deal to end the war is in tatters.
“We did not have a ceasefire in the first place that we would now want to extend," Araqchi said. "We had ‘the end of the war,’ and now there is a new situation.”
Attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen renewed concerns about a widening regional war. Yemen's internationally recognised government said the Houthis fired six ballistic missiles at the Red Sea port of Mocha on Friday, killing four civilians.
(Reporting by Menna Alaa El Din and Enas Alashray in Cairo, Humeyra Pamuk in Garden City, New York, and Jarrett Renshaw in Washington; Writing by Daniel Trotta, William Mallard and Alex Richardson; Editing by Sergio Non, Cynthia Osterman and Alexander Smith)
