“Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social at 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday, 29 April. The post came with an apparently AI-generated image of Trump holding a gun and the words “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” It was not clear what he meant by a “nonnuclear deal.”
Behind the post was a stalled negotiation and a waterway that had barely moved traffic in two months. A U.S. official and a person familiar with the meeting told NBC News that Trump’s national security team gave him several options that week. At a Monday session in the Situation Room, they discussed whether the U.S. military presence in the strait should grow or shrink, and whether American forces should act more aggressively there. No decision had been made, the sources said, and it was not clear when one would come.
Prices and a blockade
The U.S. naval blockade and the broader standoff with Tehran had effectively blocked the route for two months. In the United States, the average gasoline price reached $4.23 a gallon, the highest in nearly four years. Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped to $115 a barrel early that Wednesday. Iran’s rial hit a record low against the dollar, trading at around 1.8 million to $1.
On Tuesday, Trump and other senior officials met energy executives from Chevron, Trafi, Vitol, Mercuria and other firms. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hosted. A White House official said the group talked about keeping up the blockade of Iran’s ports “for months if needed” and about shielding American consumers from the fallout.
Washington showed little interest in a new Iranian proposal that would end the war and reopen the strait but leave the nuclear dispute unsettled. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any agreement must “definitively prevent them from sprinting toward a nuclear weapon at any point.” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said negotiators were still talking to Iranians who were “struggling to sort out their leadership situation following Operation Epic Fury.”
At a White House state dinner for Britain’s King Charles III the night before, Trump said the U.S. had “militarily defeated” Iran. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson, asked about the claim, said the king was “naturally mindful” of his government’s long-standing position against nuclear proliferation.
At sea, U.S. Marines boarded another commercial vessel late Tuesday and then let it go on its way. Iran had attacked three commercial ships and seized two. NBC’s analysis of traffic found only 11 ships crossing in the previous 12 hours. One tanker did get through: Japan’s government confirmed that the Idemitsu Maru, headed for Japan, cleared the strait Wednesday morning.
Tehran’s later line
Press TV, citing a security source, reported that Iran later adopted a harder doctrine. By its account, the U.S. and Iran had signed a memorandum of understanding on 18 June, and Iran reopened the strait on conditions. Then, on a Wednesday, U.S. Central Command confirmed strikes on 80 Iranian targets. Press TV said the Revolutionary Guards answered with ballistic missiles and drones against at least 85 American military targets, among them Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and Fifth Fleet facilities in Bahrain, and downed an MQ-9 Reaper.
The source told Press TV that any new attack would now bring a complete closure of the strait and strikes on at least two enemy targets for every Iranian one hit. Trump, at the NATO summit in Turkey, said the U.S. “may strike Iran again hard tonight” and raised resuming the naval blockade or taking Kharg Island. Press TV quoted Iranian officials as saying he “will gain nothing from these threats.”
Sources
- Trump warns Iran 'better get smart soon' as he weighs military options over Strait of Hormuz
- End of tit-for-tat era: Iran's new Strait of Hormuz doctrine traps US in unwinnable strategic dilemma
