Iran's Rezaee says don’t get distracted by US President’s mixed signals from no negotiations to we’re ready to talk, stakes around oil and straits have changed, damage control won’t stop what’s coming, no talks until Iran's conditions are met period!

Rhetoric of this kind from senior Iranian figures has historically functioned as signalling rather than a statement of intent: hard-line voices on both sides have repeatedly escalated in public while back-channels stayed open, and the pattern in past standoffs has been maximalist demands followed by quiet re-engagement once economic pressure bites. The operative reference is the strait and oil stakes, which is the channel that matters: markets have consistently distinguished between verbal escalation, which tends to add a modest risk premium to crude and freight that fades without a physical incident, and actual interference with shipping or infrastructure, which reprices insurance rates, tanker availability and the front of the oil curve far more durably. Rezaee's framing, that conditions must be met before talks, is a familiar opening position rather than a terminal one; the tell is whether it is accompanied by steps on the ground, such as vessel seizures, naval deployments or sanctions moves, or remains in the realm of statements. The follow-ons worth noting are any shift in the official US line, movement in shipping insurance quotes for the Gulf, and whether other Iranian power centres echo or soften the message, since mixed messaging within Tehran has often preceded negotiation rather than confrontation. As rhetoric alone, the precedent is for limited lasting effect on crude absent a physical trigger.