US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Iran to “get smart soon” and sign a deal, as Washington weighed the implications of a prolonged naval blockade targeting Tehran’s oil exports.

According to a White House official, Trump on Tuesday met oil executives to discuss measures to cushion the impact of a potential months-long US blockade of Iranian ports and efforts to stabilise global oil markets.

The talks came amid a deadlock in diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, which has prompted the United States to intensify pressure on Iran by targeting its oil exports through a naval blockade aimed at forcing Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. “The president and oil executives discussed the steps President Trump has taken to alleviate global oil markets and the measures available to sustain the current blockade for months, if needed, while minimising the impact on American consumers,” the White House official said.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social earlier in the day, said Iran “couldn’t get its act together” and reiterated that Tehran could contact Washington if it wanted negotiations.

Even as Washington and Tehran exchanged public threats, Pakistan was attempting to prevent further escalation, with officials continuing to pass messages between the two sides on the possibility of a deal, a Pakistani source told Reuters.

Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official said the conflict has so far cost the US military $25 billion, marking the first official estimate of the war’s financial toll.

Iran has pledged to continue disrupting traffic through the strait as long as it is threatened, which may mean more Middle East oil supply disruptions from the conflict, which has killed thousands and caused global economic upheaval. 

Tehran warned on Wednesday of “unprecedented military action” against continued US blockading of Iran-linked vessels. Trump has said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, while Tehran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful. “They don't know how to sign a non-nuclear deal. They'd better get smart soon!” Trump said in the social media post, without explaining what such a deal would entail.

The post featured a mock-up image of him in dark glasses and wielding a machinegun with the caption “No more Mr Nice Guy.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the United States is asking ​other countries to ‌join a new international coalition that ​would enable ​ships to navigate the ⁠Strait of ​Hormuz after traffic through ​the waterway stalled. The proposed coalition, dubbed the ”Maritime ‌Freedom ⁠Construct”, would share information, coordinate diplomatically and help ​enforce ​sanctions, ⁠the Journal said, citing an ​internal State ​Department ⁠cable.

Uranium dispute, economy under pressure
Iran wants US acknowledgement of its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful, civilian purposes. It has a stockpile of about 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, material that could be used for several nuclear weapons if further enriched.

Iran's parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said Trump was trying to divide Iranians and force Iran to surrender through the blockade. “The solution for confronting the enemy's new conspiracy is only one thing: maintaining unity, which has been the bane of all the enemy's conspiracies,” Qalibaf said in an audio message on Telegram.

Iran has executed at least 21 people since the start of the war with the United States and Israel two months ago, and arrested more than 4,000 on national security-related charges, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday.

In a sign of the economic toll the war is taking on Iran's economy, its currency fell to a record low on Wednesday, the Iranian Students' News Agency said. Inflation for the month from March 20 to April 20 was 65.8%, the central bank said, a trend likely to be exacerbated by the currency's plunge.

Iran wants formal end to conflict first
Iran's latest offer for resolving the war, suspended since April 8 under a ceasefire agreement, would set aside discussion of its nuclear program until the conflict is formally ended and shipping issues resolved. That did not meet Trump's demand to address the nuclear issue at the outset.

The Pakistani source said the US had shared “observations” on the Iranian proposal and it was now up to Iran to respond. ”Iranians asked for time till the end of the week,” the source told Reuters.

US intelligence agencies, at the request of senior administration officials, are studying how Iran would respond if Trump were to declare a unilateral victory, two US officials and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Tehran has largely blocked all shipping apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global energy supplies, since the US and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on February 28. This month, the US began blockading Iranian ships.

Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power since several senior Iranian political and military figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were killed in US-Israeli strikes. The elevation of Khamenei's wounded son, Mojtaba, to replace him has handed more power to hardline commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian officials and analysts say.

Meanwhile, Trump is under domestic pressure to end a war for which he has given shifting rationales to a US public struggling with surging gasoline prices. His approval rating fell to the lowest level of his current term, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, which showed 34% of Americans approve of his performance, down from 36 per cent in the prior survey.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to defend the Iran war in fiery remarks to Congress, saying it was not a quagmire and attacking Democratic lawmakers as ”feckless” for criticising the unpopular conflict.