Tension remains high in the Sea of Hormuz, and according to the White House, Donald Trump has not given Tehran a deadline for an Iranian proposal to end the war.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to see a “unified” response from the Iranian leadership to U.S. proposals for ending hostilities, the White House press secretary said. Caroline Levitt clarified to reporters that Trump has not given Tehran a deadline for submitting the Iranian proposal.

In an interview earlier in the day on Fox News network’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Levitt said Iran should agree to hand over to the US its enriched uranium stockpiles as part of negotiations aimed at ending the war.

Meanwhile, Iran yesterday Wednesday seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz and again ruled out opening the strategic sea route until the blockade of Iranian ports by US armed forces is lifted.

Tensions remain acute in the Strait, critical to global hydrocarbon supplies, which have become a stake in the Iran war.

“A complete ceasefire is meaningless unless it is violated by the (US) naval blockade (…) reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible as long as this flagrant violation of the ceasefire continues,” Speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Bayr Galibaf said via X.

On the other hand, US President Donald Trump assured that it is “possible” that negotiations between the two countries will resume in the coming days.“It is possible!” he responded to a message from a New York Post reporter, who asked him about the possibility of negotiations in the next “36 to 72 hours,” in other words, by tomorrow, Friday.

Ship seizure

The Revolutionary Guards announced that they had proceeded to “seize” two ships that were attempting to cross the Strait and were being driven “towards Iranian shores.”

The White House did not see this development as a violation of the ceasefire, in effect since April 8, since “these are neither American ships nor Israeli ships”but vessels from other countries, US presidential spokeswoman Caroline Levitt told Fox News.

Panamanian authorities confirmed the seizure of a ship flying the country’s flag, the MSC Francesca; the Panamanian Foreign Ministry accused Tehran of having dealt a “serious blow” to maritime security.

A third vessel came under fire as it sailed 8 nautical miles off the coast of western Iran, according to a statement from the UKMTO navigation safety agency, but that vessel was able to exit the strait heading for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, according to the specialist website MarineTraffic.

According to Tehran, the ships should have received permits to move to or from the Gulf through the strait; the US has blocked access to Iranian ports since April 13.

“No deadline”

The talks between Washington and Tehran, which were supposed to resume earlier this week after an initial meeting on April 11, are intended to allow the war to end.

Donald Trump extended until further notice the ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday night to give, he said, more time for the Iranians to prepare a “proposal” and go to Islamabad for US-sponsored negotiations with Pakistan.

However, “the president has not set a specific deadline for Iran to submit a proposal,” spokeswoman Levitt said yesterday, adding that “ultimately he will dictate the timeline.”

As of now, no delegation has left for Islamabad.

Oil prices rise

In the meantime, oil prices oil were rising again due to uncertainty, up more than 4% in the early hours of the morning, with that of US WTI rising 4.06% to $96.73 and that of North Sea Brent 3.62% to $105.63 a barrel.

Meanwhile, top US Navy civilian official John Phelan is leaving his post, the Pentagon announced quite unexpectedly, without explaining why.