Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US ends violations of a collapsed June memorandum and pays compensation for war damage, complicating Donald Trump's push to restart shipping through the waterway. The hardened stance came days after Iranian diplomats said talks with Oman on a provisional shipping arrangement had reached their final stages, and just before a reshuffle atop Iran's security council.
Iran has warned it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the United States meets a set of conditions, including compensation for war damage — a demand that complicates President Donald Trump's push to get ships moving again through the waterway. The hardened rhetoric emerged over the weekend, days after Iranian diplomats said talks with Oman on a provisional shipping arrangement were in their final stages.
Araghchi ties reopening to US compliance
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that negotiations with Oman remain in their final stages, but cautioned that a deal with Muscat would not automatically mean the waterway reopens. He said Iran will not resume talks with Washington until the US ends its violations of the June memorandum of understanding and compensates for what it has violated.
His comments followed remarks a day earlier from Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, who said the US must withdraw its forces from around Iran, pay for war damage and lift sanctions before the strait reopens.
A reshuffle atop Iran's security council
In a further twist, Iranian state media reported late Sunday that Zolghadr had resigned and was replaced by Mohsen Rezaei, a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards and an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Rezaei will also serve as Khamenei's representative on the council, while Zolghadr, a hardliner, becomes political adviser to the supreme leader.
It is not yet clear how the change might affect Tehran's stance. Any deal on the strait still needs approval from both the security council and Khamenei.
Why Hormuz became Iran's leverage
Since the US and Israel ignited the war in February, Tehran has treated the chokepoint — through which about a fifth of the world's oil and gas passed before the war — as its main source of leverage. General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said the reopening of Hormuz is contingent on Tehran's conditions being met: "For us, the Strait of Hormuz is not simply an economic waterway."
Trump, meanwhile, wants the waterway fully reopened as he tries to bring down fuel prices before November's midterm elections. The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June meant to extend a ceasefire and let shipping gradually return to prewar levels toll-free, but it collapsed after Iran targeted ships transiting a channel along Oman's coast that Tehran called an "unauthorised" route, touching off a wave of tit-for-tat strikes.
Diplomats still see a path forward
Sanam Vakil of Chatham House said the shifting rhetoric suggests hardliners in Tehran want firmer guarantees from Washington because they distrust Trump and worry he could use any pause to prepare a new round of war.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist who also chairs the security council, argued Saturday that domestic unity makes this the best moment for an agreement, adding that the fighting cannot continue indefinitely. A person briefed on the talks said that if Iran and Oman strike a deal and the strait reopens, the US would lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports and reinstate a waiver letting Tehran sell oil. Diplomats hope such a deal would revive the June memorandum and lead to a resumption of talks on a final settlement to end the war.
Source: Financial Times
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