Iran Drafts Conditions to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Six months after the first American and Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran has for the first time announced that it is drafting a concrete list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the passage through which a fifth of the world’s oil flowed before the war and whose fate directly affects fuel prices in Serbia and the wider region. Mohsen Rezai, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Thursday, August 27, that mediators have asked Tehran to lay out its demands, and that ending the regional war is one of them.

Rezai made the statement twice on the same day. IRNA and the semi-official Tasnim news agency both carried his remarks from a meeting in Tehran with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani:

“The United States must first take practical steps to meet Iran’s conditions, and only then will Iran move to open the Strait of Hormuz.”

In a separate interview with the Lebanese broadcaster Al Manar, he added that Iran and Oman have already reached an agreement on a corridor running partly through Omani and partly through Iranian waters:

“Ships would pass through a specific middle channel in the strait if the United States meets Tehran’s demands.”

A day earlier, on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guard spelled out three specific conditions: lifting the American blockade of Iranian ports, compensation for war damage, and the lifting of sanctions. Rezai added that Tehran does not trust Washington and accused it of repeatedly betraying diplomatic efforts, warning that any hostile move by the United States would inflict damage on American interests that would go down in history.

Qatar’s PM, Third Mediator in a Week

Rezai’s statement came on the same day Sheikh Mohammed was in Tehran holding talks with Iranian officials, the third mediator to visit Iran in a week, after delegations from Pakistan and Oman. Qatar’s foreign ministry said after the meeting:

“The talks covered a temporary corridor through the strait and a joint mine-clearing project.”

According to the same statement, the talks also touched on the broader regional situation and efforts to ease tensions, with Qatar’s prime minister stressing the need for wisdom and responsibility in resolving the crisis.

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since American and Israeli bombing of Iran began on February 28, meaning the war, exactly six months on, is now entering its seventh month. A memorandum of understanding signed in June, brokered by Pakistan and Qatar, briefly reopened the strait: Iran agreed to clear mines and let ships pass free of charge for 60 days, while Washington was to lift the blockade and ease sanctions. The agreement expired on August 17, though both sides had effectively abandoned it weeks earlier, after implementation stalled over disagreement on the right of passage through the strait.

Contrary to Rezai’s account, United States President Donald Trump declared the strait open that same day from the Oval Office, claiming American forces had already cleared the mines and that millions of barrels of oil were leaving the strait daily. Asked when talks might resume, he gave a short answer:

“I don’t have a timetable. I’m in no rush.”

A source inside his administration told Al Jazeera that the blockade remains in place and that no talks with Iran have been scheduled.

Meanwhile, the pressure of sanctions is being felt on Iran’s domestic market: the rial has fallen to a new historic low, a sign that the economy is struggling under the prolonged closure of the region’s most important oil chokepoint. Our outlet recently reported that Iran and Oman had agreed on a corridor through Hormuz, after which world oil prices fell. Rezai’s statement shows that technical agreement is now in place, but its implementation still depends on moves Washington has yet to announce.