TEHRAN — Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts a list of demands, including compensation for damage caused by the war, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday.
The strait, one of the world’s most important energy routes, has been effectively blocked since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February. Tehran has also threatened to charge tolls on vessels using the waterway and has targeted ships it accuses of avoiding its preferred route through Iranian waters, according to Arab News.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman on the future management of the strait were “approaching the final stages.” However, he said reopening the passage would depend on additional conditions and compensation for what he called a violation of a June agreement.
Araghchi denied that Iran was holding direct negotiations with Washington. Instead, he said the two sides were only exchanging messages through intermediaries.
Iranian security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr said on Saturday that Tehran wanted an end to what he called the “war and aggression” against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq. He also demanded the lifting of a US counterblockade on Iranian ports, an end to sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets and payment for wartime damage.
The Revolutionary Guards said the strait would remain closed until the United States accepted all of Iran’s conditions. They described Hormuz as a “theater of war” rather than an ordinary waterway.
The crisis has already sharply reduced shipping through the strait. The United Arab Emirates said an Iranian missile had struck an ADNOC tanker while it was sailing through the waterway. Britain’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations later reported that another vessel had been hit by a projectile off Oman, causing a fire. It was not immediately clear whether the two reports concerned the same ship.
Oman condemned the repeated attacks but said negotiations over navigation arrangements were continuing in a positive and constructive atmosphere. International law generally does not allow tolls to be imposed on such key waterways.
Meanwhile, Turkiye said Egypt could join a proposed defence agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, aimed at strengthening regional security and collective deterrence.
