Iranian officials continued to make disparaging comments about the United States and tout their plans to take permanent control of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, even as the White House remains optimistic about an imminent “deal” that would end the conflict in the Middle East and secure safe passage for shipping.
Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Friday mocked President Donald Trump for constantly backing down from his threats to launch a “massive attack” and claiming Iran wants to make a deal.
“‘Massive attack coming… wait, never mind, they want to negotiate.’ That’s theater diplomacy on loop,” he jeered in a post on X.
“Using bullying + broken promises + fake news as leverage is a failed strategy,” he said.
“Acknowledge the facts and fulfill your commitments. We don’t need more theater,” he demanded.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed on Friday that Iran was developing “closer ties” with its neighbors — most of which it has been showering with missile and drone attacks.
During an interview with the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Pezeshkian praised neighboring countries for their “security cooperation” because they “prevented hostile groups from entering Iran through border regions and creating unrest during recent periods of conflict and tension.”
Pezeshkian credited Iran’s strategy of “building unity and cooperation both with neighboring countries and within Iran,” which “played a crucial role in frustrating plans aimed at destabilizing the country.”
Iran has, in fact, launched wanton attacks against most of its neighbors, but Pezeshkian was most likely singing the praises of countries like Iraq and Pakistan that have acted against militant groups opposed to the regime in Tehran, such as the Balochs and Kurds.
The Iranian regime’s official narrative of the January uprising, in which thousands of Iranians were murdered for protesting against their government, is that the protests were a plot hatched by malevolent foreign powers and traitorous saboteurs.
Pezeshkiani praised the “resilience” of the Iranian regime and its loyalists, especially for their willingness to hold together in the face of damaging sanctions and blockades.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Friday that Iran was willing to engage in diplomacy, but only from a position of strength.
“Our experience in negotiations has shown that whenever we have shown unnecessary flexibility toward the U.S. and the West, their demands have only increased,” he said in an interview with another state media outlet, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Gharibabadi stressed that “diplomacy and the battlefield must be fully coordinated,” and claimed “this coordination has never been as strong as it is now.”
Gharibabadi said this week that Iran has nearly reached an “understanding” with Oman about controlling the Strait of Hormuz — and that understanding would not include completely reopening the strait to international traffic, or promising safety from Iranian terror attacks.
Gharibabadi said the “new model” for the Strait of Hormuz would be “distinct from the practice of the past 60 years,” because a “significant portion” of shipping will now be forced to pass through Iran’s territorial waters under whatever terms Iran chooses to set.
The Trump administration projected confidence throughout the week that a deal to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz was at hand. As with previous hints of a diplomatic breakthrough, oil prices plummeted and the stock market rose, only for the weekend to arrive with no hint of such a deal, or any negotiations with Iran at all.
RBC Capital Markets global head of commodity strategy Helima Croft told CNBC there is “tremendous optimism bias in the markets,” based on the assumption that both America and Iran have incentives to end the war through diplomacy.
The markets may have reconciled themselves to the notion of Iran extorting “fees” from global shipping as the price that must be paid for bringing the Strait of Hormuz back online, provided the fees are not too excessive and Iran does not continue to attack civilian vessels. Even those faint hopes may be dashed, as the Iranians are unlikely to be satisfied with modest fees, and the U.S. is opposed to letting them collect any ransoms at all.
“While Iran and Oman may agree on a narrow Hormuz management plan, we do not see the broader and durable settlement between the U.S. and Iran that Hormuz normalization requires and the crude markets want to see,” Rapidan Energy Group president Bob McNally said.
An unnamed U.S. official told CNBC that any “temporary routes” established through the strait as part of a ceasefire deal must be “without impediments — meaning no approvals or permissions, and no tolls or charges.”
On Friday, President Trump insisted the Iranians “want to make a deal.”
“Look, it’s obvious. They don’t want to be hit. Okay? They want to make a deal. So we will see,” he said.