Ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz near Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Aug. 10 (local time). [AFP]
Ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz near Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Aug. 10 (local time). [AFP]

Iran has declared it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz even after the expiration of a 60-day negotiating deadline, insisting the United States must first fulfill commitments set out in an existing memorandum of understanding.

With the two countries unable to narrow their differences over control of the strait — a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments — the end-of-war negotiations appear to have fallen back into deadlock.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaker of Iran's parliament and head of its ceasefire negotiating team, made the position explicit in a nationally televised address Tuesday (local time). "I make it clear that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the United States fulfills the commitments specified in the MOU," he said, according to AFP and other news agencies.

Qalibaf laid out three conditions: the lifting of the US naval blockade on Iran, the withdrawal of sanctions and the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad.

The United States and Iran have been negotiating a final peace agreement based on a ceasefire MOU signed June 18. Under that agreement, the two sides set a 60-day window to seek a comprehensive deal covering nuclear issues and passage through the Strait of Hormuz, among other matters.

The deadline — Sunday by US Eastern time — passed without a final agreement. The two sides have been unable to find common ground, particularly on the sequencing question: whether the strait should be reopened before or after the US lifts its sanctions and blockade.

Iran maintains that the US must first implement the economic and military pressure-relief measures contained in the MOU before Tehran will reopen the strait. Washington, for its part, has held that guaranteed safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is a core condition of any final peace deal.

The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and serves as the world's most critical energy transit corridor. A significant share of Middle Eastern crude oil and LNG passes through it, meaning a prolonged closure would sustain supply uncertainty across global oil and gas markets.

By reaffirming immediately after the deadline that US action must come first before the strait reopens, Qalibaf has raised the likelihood that the end-of-war negotiations will drag on for an extended period.

Iran's decision to link Hormuz transit to sanctions relief and the unfreezing of its assets signals that Tehran intends to use control of the strait as its primary bargaining chip to extract concessions from Washington in the talks ahead.


sjy@heraldcorp.com