Hormuz won’t be reopened until US meets our demands – Iran

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have stated that the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the United States meets a list of demands, including compensation for war damage. The Islamic Republic has effectively blockaded the critical energy artery since the US and Israel attacked it in late February, and now seeks to levy tolls on ships that breach its preferred route.

Attacks in the waterway, which was free to transit prior to the war, contributed to the collapse of an April ceasefire. Iran's security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr outlined a list of conditions for reopening the strait on Saturday, which included an end to the "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq," the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, the cessation of sanctions, the release of frozen assets, and compensation for wartime damage.

The Revolutionary Guards have maintained that their strategy is to keep the strait closed "until the enemy accepts all our conditions", as it has become a "theatre of war for us and not just a waterway". Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that his country was negotiating with the US, stating that they were merely "exchanging messages" through intermediaries.

Meanwhile, the UAE accused Iran of attacking a tanker belonging to its national oil company in the strait, while the UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that a ship off Oman was hit by a projectile, though the incident's connection to Hormuz remains unclear. Oman's foreign ministry condemned the repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and warned against actions that might jeopardize ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the waterway.

The June Iran-US deal stipulated that Tehran and Muscat would negotiate future arrangements for the strait in discussions with other Gulf countries and in line with international law, which generally prohibits tolling in such waterways.