As negotiations for a peace agreement between Iran and the Strait of Hormuz stall, Iran continues to deny US claims that it controls the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his claim that the United States has “full control” of the vital shipping lane, but was met with angry denials from Iran, which said it would not reopen the strait until its demands for invasion, reparations and sanctions were met.
“Claims and repeated posts by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer closed do not change the reality,” Iran’s Persian Gulf Straits Authority (PGSA) posted on X on Wednesday.
“The Strait of Hormuz remains closed and will not reopen until Iran’s terms are accepted,” it added.
Here’s what we know about the latest developments in the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are transported in peacetime, and the outlook for ongoing talks.
What’s the latest on the US-Iran conflict?
Iran’s military currently prevents ships without explicit permission from navigating the narrow strait that passes through Iranian and Omani territorial waters.
Despite President Trump’s assertion that the United States has control of the strait, shipping traffic through the vital waterway has fallen to its lowest level in a week as a result of Iran’s blockade.
Meanwhile, the United States has placed a naval blockade on Iranian ports in and around the strait. The U.S. military on Tuesday targeted a Panamanian-flagged vessel heading to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman, saying it did not respond to warnings.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States “has been miscalculating for a long time due to intelligence failures,” including at the beginning of the war against Iran and alongside Israel in the February 28 attack on Tehran.
In a post on X, Araghchi said US actions in the Strait of Hormuz were “an even bigger miscalculation.”
“Worse than fake news is fake intelligence,” he said.
Hojatleslam Hossein Taeb, commander of the Basij militia, an affiliate of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), reiterated that the strait is “under Iranian control and control.”
“Today we can see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the control and control of the Islamic Republic, and our country continues on its path in complete security,” Taib said on Thursday, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
“Americans recognized the power of the Islamic Revolution,” he added.
What do we know about Iran and Oman talks?
Iran says it has not directly discussed the strait with the United States. Instead, it says it is holding talks with Oman and proposing to share future management of the strait.
After Iran and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 in which Iran committed to keeping the strait open for 60 days, disagreements quickly arose over control of the waterway and the routes ships should take. Iran fired on some ships for not following authorized shipping routes, rekindling hostilities with the United States.
Iran has also been at odds with the United States over whether it can charge ships passing through the strait. As a result, the strait, which had full and free passage to all ships before the US launched its war against Iran, has become a major obstacle to progress in broader peace negotiations.
Currently, talks between Iran and Oman aim to resolve these issues.
Qatar said on Tuesday that negotiations between Iran and Oman over the strait had reached an “advanced stage”.
“As mediators, we hope for the early reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said at a press conference.
Negotiators are trying to reach a compromise that would allow commercial shipping to resume while addressing the security concerns of both Iran and Oman.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said talks with Oman focused on “establishing safe routes of entry and exit” that would “protect sovereignty while also addressing national security considerations for both Iran and Oman.”
Iran announced last week that it had reached an agreement with Oman to coordinate these routes.
What do we know about the broader peace talks between Iran and the United States?
Iran says it has not spoken directly with the United States because it violated the June 17 memorandum by resuming attacks against Iran in July.
Pakistan is currently trying to mediate peace negotiations. The country’s government said on Tuesday that Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with senior Iranian officials in Tehran and was working to bring the United States and Iran “to the negotiating table.”
In April, the United States and Iran held face-to-face negotiations, with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf attending talks in Islamabad. On June 17, both sides signed a memorandum of understanding remotely, which was to begin a 60-day negotiation process. However, the process stalled due to various disagreements, and negotiations have stalled since then.
Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomacy fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., told Al Jazeera earlier this month that the only significant negotiations currently taking place are the Iran-Oman talks over the Strait of Hormuz.
Eyre said Iran maintains that there is no value in direct dialogue because “you can’t rely on anything the United States says.”
Commenting on the possibility of future talks between the two long-time adversaries, Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the US-based International Policy Center, said the key question is whether the escalating rhetoric on both sides “opens up a negotiating position or opens up an actual red line that should not be crossed.”
“There is still a way to end the conflict and reopen the strait if both sides are willing to compromise,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
“Otherwise, Hormuz may remain restricted and this conflict risks becoming another protracted and unending conflict in the Middle East.”
What are the recent demands from Iran and the US?
Last weekend, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council set new conditions that the United States must meet before the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens.
The six conditions include an end to U.S. threats against Iran and insults to what Zolgadol called the country’s national and religious values. Permanently end attacks against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq. Lift the U.S. naval blockade and withdraw naval and air forces from around Iran. compensation for damages caused by what he called “two wars imposed”; Lifting sanctions. and the unconditional release of frozen Iranian assets.
President Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that his administration would seek “50 years” of payment for damages caused by Iran, claiming the move was a direct response to Tehran’s claims.
He claimed that 52,000 people had been killed in Iran over the past four months and said the payments would cover the deaths of U.S. soldiers and Iranian civilian protesters in the region. The Iranian government says around 3,117 people were killed in anti-government protests that swept the country in January, before the start of the US-Israel war. In February, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported approximately 7,000 deaths, including 6,500 protesters.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asidi reported on Thursday, citing observers, that Iran is focusing on two main issues.
“The first thing that Iran wanted was security, which would guarantee that a deal would pave the way for a period of stability in the country,” Asidi said.
“The second is economic concerns, mainly embodied in demands for the lifting of the US naval blockade and a freeze on sanctions, which represent the main demands from the Iranian side,” he added.
Despite President Trump’s rhetoric, analysts told Al Jazeera that the United States may have to concede some of Iran’s demands as it faces growing pressure at home to avoid further escalation.
US media reported that concerns about dwindling defense munitions played a role in President Trump’s decision not to carry out a threatened large-scale attack on Iran.
