Iran says US response to conditions for reopening Strait of Hormuz ‘insufficient’

Iran considers Washington’s response to its seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz “insufficient,” a senior Iranian official said, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the US had accepted some of Tehran’s conditions, while others remained unclear.

Rezaei said Washington had approached Tehran over the past two months through three channels — Pakistan, Qatar and Iraq — asking Iran to submit its proposals.

About two weeks ago, Iran conveyed seven conditions to the US, explicitly stating that the Strait of Hormuz would not reopen to Washington and no negotiations would take place until those conditions were met, he said.

Rezaei said Tehran was no longer in the process of responding to Washington because the US had already submitted its response, which Iran considered “insufficient.”

“They must clarify the issues that remain ambiguous to us,” he said.

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The report did not detail all seven conditions or specify which ones Washington had accepted.

Rezaei also said the Gulf could not be secure without Iran’s management of the Strait of Hormuz, describing control over the waterway as an “immense source of national wealth and a major national asset.”

He said Iran’s interests extended beyond closing the passage and collecting transit fees.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in late September that Tehran could reopen the strategic waterway within seven days if Washington accepted a proposal conveyed through Qatari mediation.

Under the plan, the US would be expected to take agreed steps during the first four or five days, allowing normal navigation through the strait to resume on the sixth day and negotiations on a final agreement to begin on the seventh.

Tehran’s demands include an end to hostilities, the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of restrictions on Iranian oil exports and an end to the US naval blockade on Iranian ports.

Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz restricted while demanding that Washington fulfill commitments under a June memorandum of understanding.

Tehran has said the waterway will not fully reopen until its conditions are met and US commitments are implemented.

The US and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

Washington and Tehran subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding in June concerning freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, but implementation stalled over disagreements related to security in the strategic waterway.

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