Iran drew a hard line on Thursday despite Washington's warning to "get smart soon" amid stalled ceasefire negotiations that have disrupted global oil prices.

Speaking in a written statement read by a state television anchor, Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the "bright future" of the Gulf will be one without the United States presence and at the service of the progress, comfort and welfare of regional countries.

Despite a massive military campaign, the US has admitted an "ignominious" defeat in its plan against Iran and the region, Khamenei said, adding that a new chapter in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is unfolding.

Iran will protect its "nuclear and missile capabilities" as a national asset, he said.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump told Axios that he was going to keep Iran under a naval blockade until it agrees to a deal that addresses Washington's concerns about Tehran's nuclear program.

Trump also claimed that Iran wants to reach a deal in exchange for the lifting of the blockade.

"The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing. ... They can't have a nuclear weapon," he was quoted as saying by Axios.

"They want to settle. They don't want me to keep the blockade. I don't want to (lift the blockade), because I don't want them to have a nuclear weapon," he added.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed the US and Israel for the continuing blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.

In a message commemorating the Persian Gulf National Day on state media, Pezeshkian said the waterway is "a symbol of the great Iranian nation's resistance".

"The responsibility for any insecurity in this water area lies with the United States and the Zionist regime," he said.

Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that inspectors cannot verify the status of Iran's highly enriched uranium, citing a lack of access to key sites.

Grossi said inspectors were scheduled to visit a newly declared Iranian nuclear facility on June 13 last year, but Israel launched a surprise attack on the country the same day, The Associated Press reported.

Iran's mission to the United Nations said that all of Iran's enriched uranium has always been under the full supervision of the IAEA, and that there "is no report of even 1 gram of Iran's nuclear material being diverted".

The US exploited the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and portrayed Iran's enriched uranium as a danger to divert attention from its own violations and those of its allies in the field of nuclear disarmament, it said.

"The UN Security Council, the IAEA director-general and the Board of Governors not only failed to condemn these illegal attacks, but most regrettably, took actions that reversed the roles of the victim and the aggressor," it said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday that the Treasury Department has seized nearly $500 million in Iranian cryptocurrency assets as part of "Operation Economic Fury".

Bessent added that they are "freezing bank accounts everywhere" and "making people less willing to deal with the regime".

Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has dismissed Washington's economic pressure campaign.

'Junk advice'

In a post on X, Ghalibaf slammed it as "junk advice" that the US administration gets from people like Bessent, who he said also pushed the blockade theory. He warned that this outlook has driven oil prices past $120 and could push them to $140.

"The issue isn't the theory, it's the mindset," he added.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said US and Israeli attacks have struck at least 130,000 civilian infrastructures.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for unrestricted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and has rejected tolls imposed on international shipping.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com