Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until the United States accepts Tehran's conditions to end the war, security official Mohsen Rezaei said Tuesday. His statements indicate that a potential deal with Oman regarding passage through the strategic waterway will not automatically reopen it to navigation.
Tehran requires the United States to honor commitments made in a June memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict. Speaking to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Rezaei said the waterway will not open as long as America does not change its behavior and accept Iranian terms.
Rezaei, a close ally of supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said Washington must end the war, unfreeze Iranian assets, and help stop conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza. He clarified that any agreement between Iran and Oman over passage remains separate from Tehran's decision to maintain the closure.
Appointed on Sunday as second in command of the body coordinating Iran's security and foreign policy, Rezaei stated that Iranian terms have been transmitted to Washington through intermediaries. Mohammad Mober, an advisor to Khamenei, posted on X that the punishment of the aggressor continues and the strait will not open until Iran's terms are satisfied. The statements drove oil futures prices higher.
US demands and options
Washington did not comment directly on the statements from Iranian leadership. US President Donald Trump previously demanded that Iran pay compensation for people killed in wars, attacks, and protests, calling Tehran deceitful in negotiations.
Speaking Monday at the White House, Trump said the United States will request money for damage caused over 50 years. In an interview broadcast later that day on Real America's Voice, Trump described two options under consideration: allowing the Iranian economy to continue collapsing or launching much harder strikes. He added that he is negotiating in a way, while calling Iranians very deceitful negotiators. Trump has alternated between military escalation threats and claiming a peace deal is near.
Prior to the latest rhetoric, Pakistan had indicated that the two sides were nearing a settlement that could reopen the waterway. Before the war, about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, whose country mediates alongside Qatar, told Bloomberg News that recent messages showed both sides were close to a settlement.
Regional conflict and maritime attacks
Thousands of people, primarily in Iran and Lebanon, have died since the conflict began following US and Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb 28. Tehran responded by striking US targets and infrastructure in Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
New attacks on ships in the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea have heightened maritime risks. Four crew members died Tuesday when an attack attributed to Iran-backed Houthis struck a small cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to Yemen's Transport Ministry. If confirmed, the deaths on the Egyptian-owned Tihamah would be the first from a Houthi ship attack since the war with Iran began, though the Houthis have not claimed responsibility.
In a separate incident, a container ship was struck by a missile off Pakistan in the Gulf of Oman, in an attack suspected to have been carried out by the United States. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a US official, that a military helicopter hit the vessel after its crew ignored warnings from forces enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports. The United States announced a blockade on Iranian ports in April and reinstated it in July after a June peace agreement collapsed. On July 20, the Houthis declared a Red Sea blockade of Saudi Arabia in response to what they called a siege of Yemen, a claim Riyadh denies.
Oil export figures
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz have averaged nearly 9 million barrels per day due to coordinated efforts by the US military and Gulf allies. Writing on X, Wright added that an additional 5 to 7 million barrels per day are exported using upgraded pipelines and facilities, bringing total regional flows to about 15 million barrels per day.
Wright also claimed that more than 20 million barrels of oil were exported from the Gulf region on Sunday alone. He noted that this single-day figure exceeded the daily average recorded before the conflict began.
