Iran has attached fresh conditions to any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding compensation for war damage and other concessions in a move that could further delay restoring traffic through one of the world’s most vital shipping corridors.
The strait has been under an effective Iranian blockade since the United States and Israel struck Iran in late February. Tehran has also sought to impose tolls on ships and has attacked vessels it says are trying to bypass its preferred route, accusing them of attempting to skirt Iranian-controlled waters.
Those strikes — in a channel that had been freely navigable before the war — helped sink an April ceasefire, as violence in the waterway continued despite efforts to de-escalate.
Since then, mediators have pushed the parties to revert to the terms of a June memorandum.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman over the strait’s transit and management were “approaching the final stages,” but he stressed that reopening Hormuz “is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation” of the June agreement.
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, Iran’s security chief, outlined further demands, including an end to what he called “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq”.
According to remarks carried by Tasnim news agency, he also called for the lifting of what he described as a parallel US naval blockade of Iran, an end to sanctions, the release of frozen assets, and compensation for damage sustained during the conflict.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, however, struck a tougher note, saying the reopening of Hormuz had “nothing to do with the negotiations between Iran and Oman” and insisting the “enemy is forced to accept Iran’s conditions for the opening of the strait”.
Repeated attacks
The statements come as commercial transit through Hormuz has fallen sharply, with Iran continuing to target ships it accuses of avoiding its preferred passage through Iranian waters.
The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry denounced what it described as a “hostile Iranian attack that targeted a tanker belonging to ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) with a missile while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, without causing casualties”.
Later, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that a vessel was struck by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a fire that was later extinguished. UKMTO said there were no casualties.
It was not immediately clear whether both accounts referred to the same ship.
Continued attacks in the strait led to the collapse of an April ceasefire
On Friday, ADNOC said that since the war began, 15 of its vessels have come under attack in Hormuz, “including three vessels this week alone”.
Oman’s foreign ministry also condemned “repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz”, though it did not name Iran.
Muscat added that “ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding in a positive and constructive atmosphere”, while warning against steps that could undermine the talks.
The earlier Iran-US agreement — intended as a starting point for talks on a lasting settlement — stated that Iran and Oman would work out future arrangements for the strait in consultation with other Gulf countries and “in line with the applicable international law”.
Under international law, tolls are generally prohibited in such waterways.
Security agreement
In separate developments, Turkey’s foreign minister said he anticipates Egypt will join a joint defence agreement between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that is aimed at stabilising the region, calling Cairo a “natural partner on all issues”.
“I believe that at the next stage Egypt will also be among us in the alliance. We already act toward one another as if we were alliance members,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview.
Motorists drive vehicles past a billboard depicting Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei
A drone struck US assets at an Egyptian port on the Mediterranean last month, in what was the first drone attack on Egyptian territory since the Iran war began.
Mr Fidan said the agreement is not directed at any one country.
“There is no common threat that we have put in writing,” he said, according to the news agency.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Friday that the pact means an attack on any member would be treated as an attack on all, describing it as “intended to strengthen collective deterrence”.
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