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Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they would keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until the U.S. meets all of Tehran's conditions, including compensation for wartime damage, as attacks on shipping continue and talks over navigation arrangements move forward.
Iran has maintained an effective blockade of the strait since the U.S. and Israel attacked in late February and has sought to charge tolls for passage, striking vessels it accuses of bypassing its preferred route through Iranian waters.
Repeated attacks in the waterway, which was free to transit before the war, contributed to the collapse of an April ceasefire. Mediators have since urged both sides to return to a June memorandum that outlined a path toward peace talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman over transit and management of the strait were "approaching the final stages," but said reopening Hormuz remained subject to other conditions and compensation for what Tehran considers violations of the June agreement.
He also denied Sunday that Iran was negotiating with the U.S., saying the sides were only "exchanging messages" through intermediaries.
Iran's security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr said Saturday that reopening the strait would require an end to the "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq," according to the Tasnim news agency.
He also demanded an end to the U.S. counterblockade of Iranian ports, the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage.
The Revolutionary Guards said their strategy was to maintain the closure "until the enemy accepts all our conditions," adding that "the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway."
Transit through Hormuz has fallen significantly as Iran targets vessels it accuses of avoiding its preferred route.
The United Arab Emirates' Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned what it called a "hostile Iranian attack" involving a missile against an ADNOC tanker in the strait. No casualties were reported.
Later, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a vessel was struck by a projectile off Oman, causing a fire that was extinguished without casualties. It was unclear whether the two statements referred to the same ship.
Oman also condemned "repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz," without naming Iran, while saying negotiations over navigation arrangements were proceeding in a "positive and constructive atmosphere." It urged against actions that could jeopardize progress.
The previous Iran-U.S. agreement, intended as a starting point for negotiations toward a permanent settlement, said Tehran and Muscat would determine future arrangements for the strait in talks with other Gulf countries and in line with applicable international law. International law generally prohibits tolls in such waterways.
Meanwhile, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Sunday they struck a Saudi oil facility on the Red Sea coast after Saudi Arabia said it had extinguished a fire at the site, as the group seeks to cut off a second vital waterway.
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