Pakistan announces US-Iran talks 'in coming days'

The Philippines is now the first country to declare a state of emergency in response to the chokehold of oil in the Hormuz Strait. The price of petrol has more than doubled there since the Iran war began last month.

By declaring a "state of national energy emergency," the government can control fuel prices and fast-track imports from other sources.

Authorities say they have around 45 days left of fuel based at normal consumption levels.

-ABC News' Britt Clennett

In a video released Wednesday, an Iranian military spokesperson said the U.S. was negotiating with itself.

"The strategic power you boasted of has turned into a strategic defeat. The claimant of global superpower status, if it could have escaped this predicament, it would have done so by now," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, a spokesman for the Iranian military, said in a video statement.

"Do not call your defeat an agreement," Zolfaqari said. "Has the level of your internal discord reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?"

"There will be neither any sign of your investments in the region, nor will you see previous energy and oil prices, until you understand this: stability in the region is guaranteed by the powerful hand of our armed forces," he added.

"Stability comes through power. We state explicitly: Until such time as it is our will, no situation will return to its previous state. That will arise only when the very idea of taking action against the Iranian nation is completely erased from your corrupt minds," Zolfaqari added.

-ABC News' Othon Leyva

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told the India Today television channel on Wednesday that there are no ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran.

"There is no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States," and there have "not been such negotiations for the past 25 days of the illegal war against Iran," Baghaei said. "No one can trust U.S. diplomacy."

"Our position is very clear," Baghaei said. "Our brave forces are focused on defending Iran's territory and sovereignty."

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti

In a letter dated March 22 and sent to the International Maritime Organization, Iran said that "non-hostile vessels" can safely navigate the Strait of Hormuz "in coordination with the Iranian authorities."

The IMO circulated the letter on Tuesday.

In the letter, Tehran says that it had "taken necessary and proportionate measures to prevent the aggressors and their supporters from exploiting the Strait of Hormuz to advance hostile operations against Iran." It named the aggressors as the U.S. and Israel.

The IMO is the United Nations body that sets international shipping standards and has been trying to establish a humanitarian corridor for the ships that are running low on supplies to exit through the Strait.

There are thousands of ships stranded in and around the Persian Gulf unable to make the journey through Iranian waters.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee