Iran dismisses US claim that Strait of Hormuz has reopened

Iran has rejected claims by United States officials that the strategically important Strait of Hormuz has been reopened, insisting that the waterway remains closed until Tehran’s demands are met.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), which oversees maritime traffic through the strait, dismissed the US position in a statement posted on X.

“Claims and repeated posts by U.S. officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality,” the authority said.

The PGSA maintained that the waterway would remain closed until Iran’s conditions were accepted, directly contradicting claims from Washington about the status of the major international shipping route.

The development followed comments by US President Donald Trump, who said Washington maintained “total control” of the Strait of Hormuz and would retain control of the strategic waterway.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, described the US naval blockade of the strait as a “wall of steel” and claimed that Iran lacked the capacity to challenge it.

Iran, however, maintained that the closure remained in place.

The newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said the strait would not be reopened unless the United States altered its position and met Tehran’s demands, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

Rezaei said Washington must end the war and release Iran’s frozen assets, while hostilities across the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza, must also come to an end.

“United States must end the war and pay the country’s frozen assets, and the war must end in the entire region, including Lebanon and Gaza,” he said.

According to Rezaei, Iran’s other demands had been communicated to the United States through intermediaries.

He also disclosed that Iran and Oman were continuing discussions over the possible designation of a new route through the Strait of Hormuz.

Rezaei stressed, however, that any agreement reached between Tehran and Muscat over the proposed route would not necessarily affect Iran’s decision to keep the strait closed.

He described a potential agreement between the two countries as a matter separate from the closure of the strategic waterway.

Iran tightened restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, preventing vessels owned by or affiliated with Israel and the United States from obtaining safe passage.

The move followed joint strikes by the two countries on Iranian territory, escalating tensions in the strategically sensitive Persian Gulf region.

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical global shipping route, through which a substantial volume of the world’s energy supplies passes, making its continued closure a major concern for international trade and energy markets.

Leave a Reply