The Iran Revolutionary Guards have insisted that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until Washington accepts “all” of Tehran’s conditions, appearing to dampen hopes of a swift resolution to one of the most consequential issues in the Middle East war.
The Strait of Hormuz has become a central point of contention in the conflict, with Iran describing the vital waterway as a “theatre of war and not merely a maritime route”.
“Our current strategy is to keep this strait closed until the enemy accepts all our conditions,” the Revolutionary Guards said over the weekend.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, played down Iran’s demands in an interview with news website Axios on Sunday, saying the US remained “discreet” and was simply “watching Iran with its rampant inflation” and its economy in “very bad shape”.
Trump claimed the situation had deteriorated to the point where Iran could struggle to pay its military personnel.
The US reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the Gulf in July, which Trump said had further intensified Iran’s economic crisis.
“It will work. It always works,” the Republican said, adding: “It’s like a chess game.”
Iran demands end to war, sanctions and blockade
Reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran closed, has become Trump’s top priority, overtaking even concerns surrounding Iran’s nuclear energy and missile programmes that were among the reasons cited when the US-Israeli attack was launched in late February.
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly said that supposed negotiations over the strait were progressing well and that it would reopen imminently.
However, conditions set out by Tehran on Saturday could lead to a renewed stand-off.
The conditions imposed by Iran for reopening Hormuz include that the US “definitively end the war and aggression” against Iran and its allies, including those in Yemen and Iraq. It is also calling for the blockade of Iranian ports to be lifted, economic sanctions to be removed, and frozen Iranian assets to be released “without conditions”.
Many of these provisions were already included in the memorandum of understanding signed by the presidents of the two countries in mid-June.
The agreement was supposed to pave the way for broader negotiations and allowed the Strait of Hormuz to reopen for several days, contributing to a fall in oil prices, before the process broke down.
Amid reported disagreements between the US and Israel over the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday focused on Iran’s nuclear programme.
“With or without an agreement,” Iran “will not acquire nuclear weapons”, Netanyahu said, reiterating Israel’s longstanding position on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Tehran says messages exchanged through intermediaries
Iran has again denied that direct negotiations with Washington are taking place, despite repeated claims from the US president that talks are under way.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that there had instead been an “exchange of messages through intermediaries”.
“I would not call it negotiation. I would call it an exchange of messages,” Araghchi said.
He ruled out further talks while what Tehran describes as US violations of the initial agreement, known as the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, continue.
Iran maintains that it is holding talks only with Oman, on the opposite side of the Strait of Hormuz, to determine a future route for ships passing through the waterway.
Those discussions are in their “final stage”, Araghchi said.
“We’re semi-negotiating with them,” Trump told Axios.
Tehran has rejected a return to the pre-war status quo and intends to impose fees for services provided to vessels using the strait, despite explicit US opposition.
US bombing paused as pressure for deal continues
US bombing operations have been suspended for more than a week, although Trump had made the pause conditional on reaching an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “quickly”.
Elsewhere in the conflict, Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, said on Sunday that it had used drones to strike a refinery operated by Saudi oil giant ARAMCO on the Red Sea.
Riyadh, which supports Yemen’s internationally recognised government in its war against the rebels, said a fire had been brought under control at the site, without specifying its cause.
The Houthis also launched ballistic missiles and drones against “Saudi enemy troops and weapons depots in the area where Mokha is located”, a port in southern Yemen.
At least 11 people, including military personnel and civilians, were killed, according to a medical source.
Red Sea conflict adds pressure on energy trade
Hostilities resumed in July after four years of relative calm, opening another chapter in the regional escalation that followed the war launched by the US and Israel against Iran on 28 February.
The Houthis subsequently announced a blockade of Saudi ships and ports in the Red Sea, a route that has taken on greater importance for hydrocarbon trade following the paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz.
They have also repeatedly attacked Saudi Arabia for the first time since a UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022, which had largely continued to hold despite formally expiring.
Saudi Arabia, a US ally that has itself repeatedly been targeted by Iran during the war, signed a mutual defence agreement with Pakistan and Turkey on Friday.
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