Amid uncertainty over whether the ceasefire with the U.S. will last, Tehran residents voiced frustration and anxiety on Wednesday about what might come next.

"Last night my family all stayed awake, waiting for the clock to show 3:30 a.m. and see who really has the upper hand," said Reza Tehrani, a 34-year-old resident of Tehran, referring to the time many people expected the ceasefire to lapse.

Tehrani said President Trump had made a series of false claims, including that Iran would give up its enriched uranium. 

"It's obvious that he will eventually take his warships back and nothing will happen," he predicted. "We will win, rest assured."

Another resident voiced frustration over the uncertainty.

"We should know where we stand. Is it going to be a ceasefire, peace or the war is going to continue?" Mashallah Mohammad Sadegh, 59, told The Associated Press. "The way things currently are, one doesn't know what to do."

CBS/AP

Iran's top diplomat said Wednesday that responsibility for the global economic consequences of the U.S.-Israeli war with his country, which has sent energy prices soaring, "lies with the aggressors."

In a phone call with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that Iran, "as a coastal state of the Strait of Hormuz, has taken measures in accordance with international law to safeguard its national security against U.S. and Israeli threats and aggression," according to a readout of the call provided by the Iranian ministry.

"Responsibility for any consequences [of the war] on the global economy lies with the aggressors," he was quoted as telling Tajani.

International energy prices have spiked since the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran more than seven weeks ago, which has already driven up the price of goods and services across the board. 

Economists have warned that U.S. motorists shouldn't expect fuel costs to return to where they were before the war, as neither Tehran nor Washington show any inclination to back down, and Iran's attacks and threats keep the Strait of Hormuz — a vital shipping lane for global energy supplies — gridlocked.

Oil prices edged higher Wednesday but the reaction in stock markets was less clear amid uncertainty surrounding the prospect of resumed Mideast peace talks following an extension of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

Asian equities had a mixed trading day as investors wait for clarity but broadly expect that both President Trump and authorities in Iran want to end a war that has sent oil and gas prices soaring.

"The ceasefire extension hasn't done much to calm nerves given that worries remain about the impact of the energy squeeze on the global economy," said Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at the Wealth Club."Shipments from the Middle East are in limbo and a resolution to the conflict remains elusive, and the price of Brent crude, the benchmark, reflects this."

International benchmark Brent Crude was again closing in on $100 a barrel, while main U.S. contract, West Texas Intermediate, traded back above $90.

Iranian gunboats attacked several commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday despite Mr. Trump announcing the previous evening that he was unilaterally extending a ceasefire to allow more time for peace talks.

"The US and Iran may be trying to shore up leverage and playing a game of who blinks first," said Christopher Wong, a strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.

"Whatever the outcome, the suspense in the interim may see risk appetite being curtailed," he said. 

European stock prices were down slightly, but Asian markets were mixed and S&P futures in the U.S. rose 0.5%, while Nasdaq futures gained 0.7% ahead of Wednesday trading.

CBS/AFP

Underwater communications cables beneath the Strait of Hormuz are "a vulnerable point for the region's economy," Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is closely linked with the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in a report Wednesday.

The article described the contested waterway as not only a chokepoint for oil and gas transit, but also for subsea cables that "form the backbone of data transfer, e-commerce, cloud services and online communications in Gulf countries."

"The concentration of numerous internet cables in a single narrow passage has made the Strait of Hormuz a vulnerable point for the region's digital economy," the Tasnim report said. 

While the article did not include any explicit threat to the cables, the timing of its publication, with the U.S. and Iran locked in a standoff over control of the strait amid a tense ceasefire, was a clear hint that the cables could become targets for the IRGC.

In retaliation for the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, Iranian forces have not only blocked commercial ship traffic through the strait but launched hundreds of missiles and drones at U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf. 

Iran has also targeted several facilities belonging to major Western technology firms in the Gulf, and warned that more attacks on big corporations could follow.

Three commercial vessels came under attack in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday, according to international news agencies, with the U.K. military and Iran's Revolutionary Guard confirming two of the strikes on cargo ships, potentially jeopardizing efforts to resume peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.

The U.K. military's Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) reported early Wednesday morning that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps gun boat fired at a container ship 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman. 

There was no radio warning before the boat "fired upon the vessel" causing "heavy damage to the bridge," according to UKMTO, which said all crew members were reported to be safe.

Three hours later UKMTO reported a second incident, this time 8 nautical miles west of Iran's coast at the eastern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, in which a cargo ship said it was fired upon and was "now stopped in the water." 

The crew were "safe and accounted for" and there was no mention of the suspected source of the fire, UKMTO said, but suspicion immediately fell on Iran.

In a statement, Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said two vessels it accused of violating its blockade of the strait "had entered the area without proper authorization and allegedly tampered with their navigation systems, thereby endangering maritime safety."  

The IRGC said the ships were intercepted "and escorted to the Iranian coast." 

The Reuters and Associated Press news agencies and CBS News' British partner network BBC said a third ship was hit by gunfire in the strait Wednesday, but UKMTO did not immediately confirm that attack.

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An advisor to Iran's powerful parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who's also one of the Islamic Republic's lead negotiators, dismissed President Trump's indefinite ceasefire extension as a ploy to buy time for a military build up ahead of a "surprise blow" against his country.

"The extension of the ceasefire by Trump means nothing," Ghalibaf's aide Mahdi Mohammadi said in a post on X. "The continuation of the siege [U.S. naval blockade] is no different from the bombing and must be responded to militarily. In addition, the extension of the ceasefire on Trump's behalf definitely means buying time for a surprise blow."

President Trump said he was extending the truce to give the Iranian regime time to formulate a clear response to his terms for a wider peace deal, and he's repeatedly voiced optimism that Tehran will eventually capitulate to his demands under the economic pressure imposed by the naval blockade.

But with two U.S. aircraft carrier groups already deployed to the region, there are more than 50,000 American service members in the Middle East, compared to the roughly 30,000-40,000 typically based there. 

A third carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, along with three missile destroyers, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 2,500 U.S. Marines and a dock landing ship — used to move people and hardware from sea to shore - are currently on their way to the region. 

President Trump says Iran's economy is hurting badly and as a result, Tehran wants the Strait of Hormuz opened at once.

On his Truth Social platform late Tuesday night, Mr. Trump said, "Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately- Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!"

Iran itself has been largely bottling up traffic through the vital waterway that a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes through in peacetime. The U.S. has been blockading all of Iran's ports. 

President Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran doesn't want the Strait of Hormuz closed and that "They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to 'save face.'"

"People approached me four days ago, saying, 'Sir, Iran wants to open up the Strait, immediately.' But if we do that, there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!" Mr. Trump wrote.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X that, due to the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, "in a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in." 

Kharg Island is a critical oil export terminal for Iran. 

"Constraining Iran's maritime trade directly targets the regime's primary revenue lifelines," Bessent said. "The US Treasury will continue to apply maximum pressure through Economic Fury to systematically degrade Tehran's ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds."

"Any person or vessel facilitating these flows—through covert trade and finance—risks exposure to U.S. sanctions," he added.

On March 20, the Trump administration temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil that is already at sea in an effort to ease worldwide gas prices. That waiver expired on Sunday. 

President Trump said Tuesday afternoon on Truth Social that he was extending the ceasefire, which had been set to expire in the coming hours.

"Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal," Mr. Trump wrote. "I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their  proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other."