Iran Says Strait of Hormuz Will Not Reopen Without U.S. Concessions

Mehr News Agency

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei.

Iran is insisting that the U.S. meet its demands in negotiations before the Strait of Hormuz reopens. 

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States met its conditions.

“It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Esmail Baghaei said Monday, noting the American blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran wants the U.S. to lift the blockade, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran’s frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies — has become the war’s most lasting consequence. The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Iran is holding separate talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including potentially a temporary shipping corridor. But it has said any actual reopening is contingent on talks with the U.S.



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