U.S.-Iran stuck in a stalemate as war nears the 100-day mark

Iranians stand next to a symbol of a Kheibar missile as they take part during a rally in support of the country's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and commemorate Eid al-Ghadir in Tehran on June 4, 2026. Photo by AFP via Getty Images

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The U.S. and Iran remained at loggerheads over any potential truce heading into the weekend, with the conflict nearing the 100-day mark and Tehran saying that it and Oman have sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

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Following skirmishes overnight between Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon, Iran continued to insist on a ceasefire there before reaching a deal with the U.S.. Meanwhile, a military adviser to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei told CNN that “the ball is in Trump’s court” when it comes to a deal, insisting on the unfreezing of US$24 billion in assets.

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U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted for months that Iran is near its breaking point. On Friday he told reporters that “We’re having great success with Iran,” adding that “they’re in no position to have a nuclear weapon.”

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But Trump, in an interview with NBC, conceded that Iran still has some missile and drone capacity, despite moments earlier saying that the U.S. has “totally destroyed” Iran’s military capabilities and that the country is “virtually decapitated.” He said Iran still has about 21-22 per cent of their missiles remaining.

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“It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked,” he told the television network in an interview Friday.

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Trump earlier in the day downplayed the higher cost of oil, an increase that has helped push up gasoline prices: “People thought it was going to be a lot worse. Today I looked at US$96 a barrel, people thought that was going to be US$300 a barrel.” 

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Oil prices fell more than 2 per cent on Friday, with U.S. crude trading near US$90 a barrel on signs that China has curbed consumption and as American crude exports helped to plug some of the lost supplies.

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Without a breakthrough, the continuing standoff suggests that Tehran believes it can bear the current level of pressure longer while betting that the political pain in the U.S. may get the American leader to concede on some of his objectives.

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Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier said there had been “no tangible progress” in talks even though the two sides continued to exchange messages via mediators. No commercial transits through the Strait of Hormuz were observed on Friday morning, with three passages in each direction seen Thursday, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

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U.S. forces have counted nearly 1,000 commercial vessel transits in and out of the Strait of Hormuz in the last two months, according to an official familiar with U.S. Central Command operations. The figure is still far below the more than 100 ships passing daily through the vital waterway for oil and gas from the Persian Gulf before the conflict.

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As the conflict that began Feb. 28 nears the 100-day mark, Trump traveled to Wisconsin for a domestic political event after a pair of rebukes by the Republican-led Congress over his foreign policy. The first was when the House voted to halt the war with Iran, a largely symbolic move that underscores the president’s loosening grip on Capitol Hill. Four GOP members joined Democrats in passing the measure.