By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi on Saturday said that Iran has built a “solid defensive shield”, while Tehran insists Hormuz will remain shut until US commitments under a 14-point MoU are fulfilled.
United States gave fresh nuclear warnings with sweeping claims of control over the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran hardened both its diplomatic and military response.
Prospects of a deal between Washington and Tehran appeared increasingly uncertain on Friday.
US President Donald Trump said Tehran wanted an agreement but questioned whether Washington was still interested in one on terms currently on the table.
Iran rejected his assertions over the strategic waterway and maintained that it would not reopen the strait until commitments sought from the United States were fulfilled.
Trump was sSpeaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, returned to Iran’s nuclear programme.
“We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon; we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, or you will see some very bad things,” he said.
“We went down, and we stopped them; they will never have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
Trump escalated his rhetoric over Hormuz, saying Iran was eager for an agreement but Washington itself was no longer certain it wanted one.
“They want to make a deal so badly, we don’t even know if we want [a deal] because I view the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now, it’s an American territory,” Trump said, according to Al Jazeera.
He had made a similar claim before leaving Joint Base Andrews for South Carolina.
“We’re just going to sort of see what happens, and we have total control, as you know, of the border; we have total control if you look at the blockade, we have total control of that entire region having to do with the Strait of Hormuz,” he told reporters.
Trump said Tehran remained interested in negotiations but had yet to accept what Washington considered acceptable terms.
“So they would love to make a deal, but they’re not ready to make the right deal in my opinion,” he said.
He had also shared an AI-generated image on Truth Social depicting the Strait of Hormuz as “NEW U.S. Territory”.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Trump’s assertions about the strait would eventually be “corrected”, either by events or by Iran.
“Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man,” Gharibabadi said on X.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, also challenged Washington’s claim to the waterway.
“The gap between America’s inability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and its claim to own it is greater than the 7,000-mile distance between Washington and the Strait itself. Welcome to the post-American order in the Persian Gulf,” Rezaei wrote on X.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said Tehran will not reopen the strait until the United States fulfils commitments under a 14-point memorandum of understanding.
Those demands include lifting the blockade, releasing frozen Iranian assets and easing oil sanctions.
Iran also hit a harder military note as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi said the country had established a “solid defensive shield” against threats.
Vahidi backed the continuation of what he called Iran’s “Strategy of Defensive and Offensive Empowerment” in a message issued for Iran’s National Defence Industry Day.
“The battlefield is faced with new forms of combined and military aggression,” he said.
Vahidi said Iran had created a “solid defensive shield against the threats of the enemies and ill-wishers of Iran”, according to Al Jazeera.
He also praised the country’s defence industry for developing its “defensive and offensive capabilities and deterrent power” despite sanctions.
The military rhetoric comes alongside a new US economic pressure drive.
Trump has described the campaign as the “most crushing economic operation ever taken” against Iran.
He said it would target oil smuggling, financial transfers, exchange houses, ship registries and front companies linked to Tehran.
“Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop now,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He dubbed the campaign an “Economic D-Day” and called on US allies to join Washington.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi dismissed the strategy as another version of policies that Tehran had faced before.
“14 years ago: ‘Most crippling sanctions in history.’ Failed. 8 years ago: ‘Maximum pressure.’ Failed. 5 months ago: ‘Unconditional surrender.’ Failed. Today: ‘Most crushing economic operation ever.’ Bound to fail. We have seen this movie before. Same bull. Different bullies,” Araghchi said on X.
Diplomatic contacts involved Oman have continued despite the increasingly hostile rhetoric.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Oman’s Ambassador to the United States Talal Al Rahbi in Washington, with the Omani Embassy saying the two discussed issues of mutual interest and stressed continued cooperation.
The contact came after Trump had warned Oman against obstructing Washington’s position over Hormuz while Muscat and Tehran continued talks on secure commercial navigation through the waterway.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has said those discussions are intended to protect both the sovereignty of the coastal states and the safe passage of commercial shipping.
Iran and Oman were also working on a possible joint statement and a mechanism addressing their respective interests and concerns.
The Strait of Hormuz remains at the centre of the confrontation. A significant share of global energy supplies moves through the strategic waterway.
Washington and Tehran remain divided over its reopening, US pressure on Iran, and the terms of any broader agreement.
