Hormuz Strait to remain closed until US fulfills commitments: IRGC

TEHRANAug 26: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the United States accepts Tehran’s conditions and returns to an earlier memorandum of understanding reached between the two sides.

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohibi said at a press briefing in Isfahan that Iran could reopen the strategic waterway if Washington stopped what he described as obstruction and returned to the terms of the understanding. “If the US does not accept our conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will under no circumstances be reopened,” he said.

Mohibi said the strait remained under Iranian control and that no “enemy military vessels” were currently present in its waters. He added that hostile vessels were at least 400 kilometers from the waterway and that no vessel could pass through it without Tehran’s express permission.

He said Iran and Oman had held talks over the past month and reached understandings on the division of the strait’s waters and transit revenues. However, he accused Washington of obstructing the process and delaying progress toward an agreement.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tuesday that Tehran and Oman had agreed on a temporary seven-mile-wide transit route through the Strait of Hormuz, while stressing that the arrangement did not constitute a reopening of the waterway. He said further talks would determine a permanent route and that full reopening remained conditional on Washington fulfilling its commitments under the Islamabad memorandum.

Iran and the United States signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding in Islamabad in mid-June, with Pakistan and Qatar acting as mediators. The agreement included provisions on ending hostilities, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, lifting a US naval blockade and launching a 60-day negotiation process.

Tehran has accused Washington of failing to implement key provisions of the memorandum and has maintained that the strategic waterway will not fully reopen until the United States fulfills its commitments.