The Iranian authority overseeing the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf has categorically rejected claims by US officials that the strategic waterway has been reopened, stressing that the strait remains closed until Tehran’s conditions are fulfilled.
“The claims and repeated posts by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality,” the Persian Gulf Strait Authority [PGSA] said in a post on X on Wednesday.
“The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted,” it added.
Iran initially declared the Strait of Hormuz closed in response to what it described as unprovoked US-”Israeli” aggression against the country between February 28 and April 7.
The United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June aimed at ending the cycle of confrontation that followed the aggression.
Iran subsequently reopened the strategic waterway but later reinstated the closure after Washington allegedly interfered with a legal transit mechanism Tehran had established for vessels passing through the chokepoint in accordance with the understanding.
Earlier in August, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council [SNSC] said reopening the waterway would depend on the fulfillment of several conditions. These include the permanent cessation of US aggression against Iran and its regional allies, the lifting of what Tehran describes as an illegal naval blockade and sanctions against the Islamic Republic, the return of Iran’s frozen assets, and compensation for damages caused by the aggression.
Source: Al-Ahed English News
