Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States (US) meets a list of conditions, including compensation for damage caused by the war.
Naijaonpoint reports that the strait, one of the world’s most important waterways for the movement of oil and other goods, has remained effectively blocked since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran in late February.
There are concerns that Tehran’s latest position could further worsen tensions in the region amid the continued global energy supplies and shipping challenges.
Iran has also demanded payment from ships seeking to pass through the waterway and has attacked vessels it accused of trying to avoid its preferred route.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman over the transit and management of the strait were nearing completion.
However, he made it clear that reopening the waterway would depend on other conditions, including compensation.
He said the reopening of Hormuz “is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation” of the June agreement.
Araghchi also denied that Tehran was holding direct negotiations with Washington, saying the two sides were only “exchanging messages” through intermediaries.
Iran’s security chief, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, had on Saturday outlined several conditions that must be met before the strait could be reopened.
Among the demands are an end to what Tehran described as the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq.”
Iran also wants the United States to lift its counterblockade of Iranian ports, remove sanctions, release frozen Iranian assets and pay compensation for damage caused during the war.
The demands were reported by Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
The Revolutionary Guards reinforced Tehran’s position on Sunday, saying the strait would remain closed until all its demands were accepted.
“Our strategy is to maintain the closure until the enemy accepts all our conditions… the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway,” the Guards said.
The continued disruption has significantly reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, with Iranian forces targeting ships they accuse of attempting to use routes other than those preferred by Tehran.
The waterway is vital to the global economy because a large share of the world’s oil supplies passes through it.
The crisis also continued to affect commercial shipping in the region.
UAE Reaction
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned what it described as a “hostile Iranian attack” on a tanker belonging to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company while it was travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.
The UAE said the tanker was struck by a missile but that no casualties were recorded.
Later on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that a vessel had been hit by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz.
The incident caused a fire, which was later extinguished. No casualties were reported.
It was not immediately clear whether the vessel mentioned by the UK maritime authorities was the same tanker referred to by the UAE.
Oman also condemned the continued attacks on vessels using the strategic waterway.
The Omani Foreign Ministry described them as “repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz” but did not directly name Iran.
The ministry said talks on future navigation arrangements in the strait were continuing in a positive manner.
It said the “ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding in a positive and constructive atmosphere.”
Oman also called on all sides to avoid actions that could undermine the negotiations.
A previous Iran-US agreement, which was intended to provide a basis for wider peace negotiations, stated that Tehran and Muscat would discuss future arrangements for the strait with other Gulf countries and “in line with the applicable international law”.
International law generally prohibits the imposition of tolls on ships passing through such international waterways.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed on Sunday that they had attacked a Saudi oil facility along the country’s Red Sea coast.
The claim came after Saudi Arabia reported that it had put out a fire at the facility.
The development raised fresh concerns that the conflict could spread to another major international shipping route.
The Houthis have previously targeted vessels in and around the Red Sea, with the Iran-backed movement seeking to disrupt shipping through another strategically important waterway.
In another development linked to the wider regional security situation, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, said he expected Egypt to join a joint defence agreement involving Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Fidan described Egypt as a “natural partner on all issues” and said Cairo could become part of the alliance at the next stage.
“I believe that at the next stage Egypt will also be among us in the alliance. We already act toward one another as if we were alliance members,” he said in an interview.
The development comes after a drone attack on US assets at an Egyptian port on the Mediterranean last month.
The incident was reportedly the first drone attack on Egyptian territory since the outbreak of the Iran war.
Fidan, however, stressed that the defence agreement was not directed against any particular country.
“There is no common threat that we have put in writing,” he said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the agreement provides that an attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all. It described the pact as an arrangement “intended to strengthen collective deterrence” as the countries seek to improve regional security.
