Iran Sets Conditions for Strait of Hormuz Reopening as Mediators Shuttle to Tehran

Iran's top security official announced Thursday that his government would formally lay out its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical shipping lanes. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said mediators had specifically asked Tehran to name its terms, and that resolving the regional conflict stood among them. The announcement came as delegations from three countries—Qatar, Oman, and Pakistan—made their way to Tehran within a single week, each attempting to restart negotiations that have stalled since the waterway's closure.

The strait has become the focal point of a larger standoff between Washington and Tehran. Iran effectively sealed it off in late February after a US-Israel bombing campaign began, halting one of the world's most vital oil transit routes. For two months this summer, under a June agreement, the passage reopened. Iran committed to clearing mines and allowing free passage for sixty days while the United States lifted its port blockade and eased sanctions. But the arrangement collapsed when each side accused the other of breaking faith. The US reimposed its blockade; Iran declared the strait closed again. By mid-August, the agreement had expired, abandoned by both parties weeks earlier.

Now Iran is signaling what it would take to reverse course. A spokesperson for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that Tehran would not reopen the waterway unless Washington lifted its blockade of Iranian ports, paid compensation for war damages, and removed sanctions. Rezaei added specificity to the negotiating posture, telling the Iranian news agency IRNA that Iran and Oman had already sketched out a possible arrangement: a shipping corridor that would run partly through Omani waters and partly through Iranian waters, with vessels using a middle channel—but only if the United States met Iran's demands first. "The US must first take practical steps to fulfil Iran's conditions, and then Iran will proceed to open the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry reported that discussions during the prime minister's visit to Tehran had touched on a temporary corridor through the strait and a joint project to clear mines from it. The flurry of diplomatic activity suggested that mediators believed negotiations might be possible, that the two sides had not entirely closed the door.

But on the same day Rezaei made his remarks, President Donald Trump offered a starkly different picture from the Oval Office. He declared the strait already open, claiming that US forces had cleared it of mines and that millions of barrels of oil were flowing through daily. When asked by Al Jazeera whether he planned to resume talks with Iran, Trump said he felt no pressure to move quickly. "I have no time schedule, none. I'm not in a hurry," he said. An administration official told Al Jazeera that the blockade would remain in place and that no negotiations were currently scheduled.

The divergence between Tehran's diplomatic positioning and Washington's public stance left the situation suspended. Iran was preparing a formal list of demands; the United States was signaling it had no timeline for responding to them. Mediators continued their shuttle diplomacy, but without movement from either capital, the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively closed to normal traffic—a chokepoint that affects global oil markets and the economies of nations dependent on that passage.