US President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will hit Iran hard economically, as Washington and Tehran struggle to reach a deal to end a nearly six month conflict.

His comments to Fox News came a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US was going to apply measures that have “never been seen” on Tehran as soon as next week.

The US leader also said he would “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz to be US territory.

“Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States. It’s true,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state. It was unclear whether he was speaking seriously.

Responding to Trump, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi meanwhile said Tehran would not be intimidated by threats or a show of force, adding that Hormuz would only be opened or closed under Iran’s authority.

Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Friday after two more ships were attacked there and the United States declared it could maintain the naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, with two the countries still locked in a stalemate over control of the key water and the Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Friday that no decision had been made to resume negotiations with the United States, the ​Iranian Student News Agency reported. He added that mediators Qatar and Pakistan were in contact with Iran and exchanging messages, but that this did not amount to negotiations building on a June agreement to end the war.

Since the ceasefire renewed in that deal broke down, Iran has resumed attacks on ships it accuses of trying to transit the strait without its permission.

The United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said two of its vessels were attacked transiting the strait on Thursday evening. The UAE government blamed Iran, which made no immediate comment.

Two vessels passed through the narrow waterway on Friday, according to analysis from ship tracking firm Kpler: a grain ship entering Iranian waters and an empty dry bulk ship going in the other direction.

A separate empty liquefied petroleum products tanker was sailing into the Gulf via the strait, the data showed. There were no crude oil shipments........

© The Times of Israel