Iran has reasserted control of the Strait of Hormuz, warning that foreign commercial and military ships will be targeted if they do not comply with regulations governing passage through the strategic waterway.
Saturday’s announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he was close to a decision on a potential deal with Iran, but Tehran denied a deal had been reached.
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“The management of the Strait of Hormuz is carried out with the full authority of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian Armed Forces’ Head of Operations Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command said in a statement carried by Iranian media on Saturday.
“All ships, merchant vessels and tankers are only required to pass through designated routes and obtain permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy. Violation of these regulations seriously jeopardizes traffic safety,” it added.
Iran also issued a warning to foreign forces operating in the area, saying any attempt to interfere with maritime control or vessel movement would trigger a counterattack.
On Friday, President Trump met with advisers in the White House Situation Room and said a “final decision” on a potential deal with Iran would be made soon. However, there was no statement after the meeting.
U.S. officials told AFP the deal was awaiting President Trump’s approval, but the president made no decisions after Friday’s meeting.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said on Friday that messages were still being exchanged but that “no final agreement has been reached” on the deal with the United States.
US ‘fully capable’ of restarting war
On Saturday, Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, attending a national defense summit in Singapore, said the United States is “fully capable” of restarting the war if a satisfactory agreement is not reached.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) posted on social media that U.S. forces “remain stationed and on alert throughout the region.”
Efforts to reach a deal were called into question this week after a U.S. attack on Iran’s Bandar Abbas port and Iranian retaliatory shelling.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, citing a military statement, said on Saturday that air defense forces shot down a drone belonging to “enemies of the United States and the Zionist invaders.”
President Trump has said his priorities include ensuring Iran agrees not to develop nuclear weapons in any deal and reopening the closed Strait of Hormuz.
“President Trump will only make deals that are good for the United States and meet his red lines,” a White House official told AFP, adding: “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
President Trump’s “betrayal diplomacy”
Also on Saturday, Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said in a social media post that Trump was committing a “third diplomatic betrayal” by continuing the U.S. naval blockade in the strait and making what he described as “excessive negotiating demands.”
In a social media post on Friday, President Trump said Iran would remove sea mines from the strait and end the waterway closure “without charge,” while the United States would lift the blockade.
He said the two countries would cooperate on the removal and destruction of Iran’s enriched uranium, adding: “There will be no exchange of money until further notice.”
However, Iran’s Fars news agency, citing sources, said the Iranian government is demanding “the immediate release of $12 billion” in frozen assets before moving to the next stage of negotiations.
Regarding the resumption of toll-free calls from Hormuz Island, the source said, “There is no such provision in the text of the agreement,” while President Trump’s comments about the destruction of Iran’s nuclear material are “fundamentally unfounded.”
“A plan to implement Iran’s control and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz will soon be approved by parliament,” Iran’s ISNA news agency quoted lawmaker Alireza Salimi as saying.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the U.S. blockade remained in place and that Iranian ships “have been warned by the Central Communications Authority not to stop and cross the blockade line.”
