Iran live updates: Khamenei says Iran will 'guard' nuclear, missile technologies

The price of oil again surged on Thursday, with a key benchmark climbing to prices not seen since 2022, as President Donald Trump again said the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was expected to continue.

Trump told Axios in a phone interview on Wednesday that he rejected an Iranian peace offer that would lift the naval blockade and open the strait but delay nuclear talks.

Brent crude prices, a benchmark for global trading, climbed about 3% on Thursday, crossing briefly above $120 a barrel for contracts to purchase oil in June. The price rose as high as $126 per barrel but pared some of its gains by midmorning in London.

Futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate climbed about 1% in early trading, briefly topping $110 per barrel for June purchases.

Gas prices in the United States hit on Tuesday their highest level in four years, according to AAA.

-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey

Rear Adm. Shahram Irani, the commander of the Iranian Navy, said in a statement published by Iranian state media on Wednesday that Iran "will take swift and decisive action" in the event of resumed hostilities with the U.S. and Israel.

Tehran, Irani said, has "closed the Strait of Hormuz from the Arabian Sea, and if they come forward, we will take swift and decisive action," as quoted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting organization.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

The head of U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that 42 ships have been turned back by the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

"Right now there are 41 tankers with 69 million barrels of oil that the Iranian regime can't sell. That's an estimated $6 billion-plus from which Iran's leadership cannot financially benefit," Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement on X.

A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News a report from Iranian state media that six of the crew aboard the M/T Touska have been released by the U.S. Another 22 Iranian mariners remain in U.S. custody.

The Tasnim news agency said that some of the Iranian crew members had their families aboard the ship at the time that it was seized by the U.S. as it ignored warnings not to block the blockade.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and the destroyers USS Mahan, USS Winston S. Churchill, and USS Bainbridge, which make up the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, will be leaving the Middle East to return to the U.S. two U.S. officials told ABC News.

The Gerald R Ford is currently on the longest deployment for an aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War. After its original deployment to Europe it was sent to the Caribbean, then back to the Mediterranean for the start of the combat operations against Iran and then twice into the Red Sea.

The carrier is expected to return to its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, in the coming weeks, according to one of the officials.

The Gerald R Ford is currently in the CENTCOM area of responsibility along with two other aircraft carriers, including the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS George HW Bush. It’s the first time there have been three aircraft carriers in the region since 2003.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez