Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets seven conditions agreed under a June memorandum, as President Donald Trump signals he may soon decide whether to resume military operations against Tehran.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that Tehran would not reopen the strategic waterway until Washington fulfilled the conditions set out in the June interim agreement.
“The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm, and the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until our seven conditions, based on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, are met,” Ghalibaf was quoted as saying by state media.
He added that Washington “must understand that the period of dragging out the diplomatic process and dictating one-sided demands is over”.
Iran presented a proposal during the United Nations General Assembly last month, under which normal maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz could resume within seven days if the agreed conditions were met.
The United States responded to the proposal last week through Qatari intermediaries.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran had communicated its broad position on the U.S. response through mediators, although further points still needed to be conveyed to Washington.
“The Americans’ propositions are more or less in line with their previous positions, specifically on the nuclear issue. We told them our focus in this stage is the issue of the Strait of Hormuz and the return to security in this waterway requires clear steps from the U.S.,” Baghaei said.
He also denied that Iran had offered to allow inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in return for sanctions relief, saying Tehran had not entered into nuclear negotiations with Washington.
A document circulated among officials outlines a seven-day trust-building process aimed at restoring an enhanced version of the June memorandum, including steps related to Iran’s nuclear programme. An official briefed on the discussions said the main dispute concerned the sequence of measures rather than the overall components of the plan.
The diplomatic exchanges come as Trump signals that a decision on possible renewed military action against Iran could be approaching.
“We have a decision that I’ll make about Iran,” Trump told reporters on Saturday before leaving the White House for a campaign trip to Ohio.
“Iran’s been decimated. So the only question is, it’ll either be the easy way or the hard way. We’ll have it the easy or the hard way,” he said.
Trump also said Iran was “virtually giving up” plans to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Axios reported on Friday that Trump’s senior national security advisers had met secretly at Camp David to discuss U.S. options regarding Iran and the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told foreign ambassadors and diplomats in Tehran on Sunday that Iran still hoped Washington would choose diplomacy, but warned that Tehran was prepared if the United States resumed military action.
“If they again move towards military solutions, we are more prepared than before and will take whatever action is necessary to defend ourselves,” Araghchi said.
Reuters reported earlier that Iranian officials were preparing a broader and more forceful response if the United States resumed large-scale attacks.
Senior Iranian commanders are reviewing plans that could expand the range of potential targets beyond U.S.-linked assets to countries supporting American military operations and, potentially, locations outside the Middle East, according to three senior Iranian officials and another person familiar with the discussions.
Iranian army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia also told the Fars news agency on Sunday that Iran planned to increase the range of its missiles.
Qatar has been relaying messages between Washington and Tehran as part of efforts to reduce tensions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the conflict, the waterway carried around one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
The current conflict began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on 28 February. A ceasefire announced on 8 April ended the initial 40-day phase of the war, although sporadic hostilities have continued.
The June memorandum subsequently established another framework for de-escalation, including measures covering the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme.
For now, Tehran insists that reopening the waterway depends on Washington meeting the seven agreed conditions, while Trump is weighing whether to pursue diplomacy or return to military action.
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