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Iran’s top security official said on August 8 that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States changes what he described as its hostile policies and meets a set of Iranian demands.
In a statement, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the U.S. must “correct its behavior” before the strategic waterway can reopen.
He listed six conditions, including ending what he called threats against Iran’s supreme leader, permanently halting military action against the Islamic Republic and its regional allies, withdrawing American naval and air forces involved in what he described as the blockade of Iran, compensating Tehran for damage caused during the recent conflicts, lifting U.S. sanctions and releasing Iranian frozen assets.
Zolghadr stressed that the six conditions reflected the will of the Iranian people, citing nationwide rallies over the past six days.
“The Supreme National Security Council will not retreat from these demands, whether in war or in negotiations,” he said.
Separately, Iranian army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia said the “Iranian order” governing the Strait of Hormuz was “irreversible,” adding that the U.S. had “no choice but to accept the existing reality” or face “far greater costs than before.”
Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also called on the U.S. to accept Iran’s conditions and end its interference in regional negotiations.
“The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s specific mechanisms and conditions and has nothing to do with the negotiations between Iran and Oman,” the Corps’ spokesman was quoted by Press TV as saying.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not merely an economic waterway for us; it is a component of geopolitical and strategic power,” he added.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Islamic Republic and Oman are “very close” to reaching an agreement on a new mechanism for managing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, but the full reopening of the strategic waterway depends on U.S. compliance with its obligations under the memorandum of understanding signed last June.
“Negotiations with Oman on the legal framework and management of the Strait of Hormuz, including the designation of shipping routes through the waterway, are currently underway, and we are very close to reaching an agreement,” Araghchi told reporters.
“However, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz hinges on other conditions, including compensation for violations of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the United States,” he said.
A U.S. official had reported progress between Iran and Oman a day earlier that could soon reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for around 20 percent of global oil and gas shipments.
Interestingly, the latest Iranian terms do not require the U.S. to acknowledge the Islamic Republic’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, or any tolls Tehran may impose. These two points were the main sources of disagreement between Tehran and Washington that caused the collapse of the MOU amid a heated clash that went on for 13 days last month.
While Iran may have eased some of its secondary terms on paper, its actual control over the waterway remains solid, as evidenced by an attack that set a United Arab Emirates tanker ablaze earlier in the day. There has not yet been any reaction from the U.S.
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