Iran called on the US to accept defeat on Saturday, while US 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 US 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.

Petrol prices in US up by 29% in a year

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran had not decided to resume talks with the US. 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.

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"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 US price of a gallon of gasoline was about USD 4.08 on Friday, up 29 per cent from a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.

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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 USD 1 a barrel on Friday. Benchmark Brent futures were on track for a weekly rise of 6.0 per cent and West Texas Intermediate 5.4 per cent.

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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.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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