Iran ties Hormuz reopening to seven conditions as shipping disruption drags on

A waterway that carries one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas shipments in peacetime remains caught between competing diplomatic priorities. Iran says reopening the Strait of Hormuz is its central goal, but it will not allow that reopening until Washington meets its conditions. According to Al Jazeera, the route has been largely blocked and disrupted for more than seven months, making the latest exchange about far more than the terms of another round of talks.

Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, set out that position on Sunday. Iranian state-linked news agency Nournews reported his remarks, saying Washington had sent proposals through a mediator days after responding to Tehran’s diplomatic offer. Ghalibaf said the strait would remain closed until seven conditions tied to the Islamabad memorandum were fulfilled. Al Jazeera described Tehran’s offer as a seven-day plan to reopen the waterway.

“The Strait of Hormuz will not open until our seven conditions based on the Islamabad memorandum are met,” Ghalibaf said, according to Nournews, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Ghalibaf presented the new US proposals as neither a breakthrough nor a reason for Iran to retreat. He said Tehran would continue negotiating while remaining ready to fight, and warned Washington against delaying the process or imposing demands on its own terms. His message paired a stated route towards reopening with a warning that Iran remained active militarily and could respond with further surprises.

One waterway, two negotiating priorities

The immediate obstacle is not simply whether the two countries will exchange proposals, but what those exchanges should address. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States continued to concentrate on nuclear talks, while Iran’s main concern was the strait. He described Tehran’s aim as finding an agreement that would restore peace and stability to the waterway, according to Al Jazeera.

US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen Hormuz last week, hours after Tehran put forward its roadmap. The rejection preceded the latest proposals relayed through a mediator. Trump had also threatened Iran with destruction during his address to the United Nations General Assembly last month. Baghaei said Iran used that same gathering to explain its position to world leaders on ending the US-Israel war on Iran.

Diplomacy backed by military warnings

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reinforced Tehran’s position on Sunday in remarks to foreign ambassadors and diplomats in the Iranian capital. He said Iran was committed both to seeking a diplomatic settlement and to defending itself. Tehran had made its reopening conditions clear, he said, expressing hope that Washington would accept the proposal. He also warned that renewed US military action would face an Iran better prepared to respond.

The backdrop is a prolonged interruption to a major energy shipping route. Al Jazeera traces the disruption to February 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and describes it as one of the most severe maritime shipping disruptions in decades. The next development to watch is whether the mediated exchanges can bring the US focus on nuclear talks together with Iran’s insistence on its conditions for reopening Hormuz.