Iran says Strait of Hormuz will stay closed as shipping attacks raise fears of wider escalation

Iran has stated that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed unless the US accepts its conditions. According to Mohsen Rezaei, the newly appointed secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the US must change its behaviour and meet Iran's demands, including ending the war, paying Iran's frozen assets, and resolving conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza.

The Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, has seen significantly reduced shipping traffic. Data from Kpler shows that only seven commodity vessels transited the strait on Monday, down from around 98 vessels before the conflict.

Rezaei's comments suggest that any potential deal with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz would be separate from the closure, which is tied to the US meeting Iran's conditions. The US and Iran had reached a memorandum of understanding in June, but it fell apart in mid-July, leading to a decline in diplomatic hopes and a reduction in shipping traffic.

Brief written by urgent.news from Arabian Business, Business Recorder, The National Business — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.