International efforts to restart energy transits through the Strait of Hormuz intensified Thursday after U.S. President Trump warned of "extremely hard" upcoming strikes on Iran, sending oil prices higher for a public already feeling the strain.
In a speech Wednesday night, Trump said operations would be intensified and gave no timeline for ending hostilities, drawing threats of retaliation from Tehran and depressing share prices.
"We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong," Trump said in the speech amid mounting domestic pressure to end the conflict.
Britain chaired a virtual meeting Thursday of some 40 countries to explore ways to restore freedom of navigation. The meeting did not produce a specific agreement, although participants agreed all nations should be able to use the waterway freely, an official said.
Trump persisted with his threats Thursday, saying in a social media post: "IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE." He also posted footage of what appeared to be strikes on a bridge in Iran.
Iran has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world's total oil consumption, in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that began Feb. 28. The war has caused a spike in oil prices, inflation concerns, supply chain problems and worries about the impact on the global economy.
Still defiant despite the death of several of its leaders, Tehran offered a competing vision for future control of the strait and said it was drafting a protocol with Oman that would require ships to obtain permits and licenses.
"These requirements will not mean restrictions, but rather to facilitate and ensure safe passage and provide better services to ships that pass through this route," Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, according to the official IRNA news agency.
An Iranian military spokesperson said Thursday the strait would remain closed "long term" to the U.S. and Israel.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, pushed back against Tehran's plan, saying Iran cannot be allowed to charge countries a bounty to let ships pass. "International law doesn't recognize pay-to-pass schemes," Kallas wrote on X.
Benchmark Brent crude prices jumped by about 7% to around $108 per barrel, U.S. bond yields spiked and global equity markets gave back gains.
"The key question in all investors' minds is 'When is this going to be over?'" said Russel Chesler, head of investments and capital markets at VanEck Australia.
Trump warned that the war could escalate if Iran did not give in to Washington's terms, with strikes on its energy and oil infrastructure possible. He told countries that rely on fuel shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to "just grab it."
However, European and other states have said they will only help secure the strait if there is a ceasefire.
"It can only be done in consultation with Iran," French President Emmanuel Macron said.
Iran's armed forces responded to Trump with a warning of "more crushing, broader and more destructive" attacks.
The war will continue until the "permanent regret and surrender" of Iran's enemies, said Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for the Iranian military's Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters, in a statement carried by Iranian media.
Iran's Fars news agency later listed several bridges in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Jordan as potential targets for Iranian military operations after one of its own bridges was hit by airstrikes. The Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted an Amazon cloud computing center in Bahrain.
There are fears the conflict may leave Iran with a stranglehold over Middle East energy supplies now that it has shown it can block the Strait of Hormuz by targeting oil tankers and attacking Gulf countries hosting U.S. troops.
Gulf states say they reserve the right to self-defense but have refrained from responding militarily to repeated Iranian attacks over the past month, seeking to avoid escalation into an all-out Middle East war.
Iran's parliament was reviewing a bill that would formalize the blocking of vessels from hostile countries passing through the strait and the charging of tolls for others, spokesperson Abbas Goodarzi said.
Thousands of people have been killed and tens of thousands injured across the Middle East since the war began. The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation said Thursday that medical needs were rising exponentially and supplies could run low.
Iran's state media said eight people were killed and 95 wounded when a bridge linking Tehran and the western city of Karaj was hit by airstrikes. Some large steel producers and the Pasteur Institute of Iran medical research center were reported to have sustained serious damage.
The Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted U.S.-linked steel and aluminum facilities in Gulf states and an Oracle data center in Dubai, and would step up such attacks if Iranian industries were hit again.
Sirens and the booms from interceptors rang out over Jerusalem after the Israeli military said it identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israel.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis first claimed an attack on Israel at the end of March, as the conflict with Iran has expanded across the region.
Fuel shortages have already caused economic strains across Asia and are expected to bite in Europe soon, while a report by two U.N. agencies warned a sharp economic slowdown could spark a cost-of-living crisis in Africa.
