Ships are visible near the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Tuesday (local time), as people gather on the beach. [Reuters]
Ships are visible near the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Tuesday (local time), as people gather on the beach. [Reuters]

Iran has demanded that the United States fully honor all of its obligations as the primary condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, saying Tehran will take no unilateral steps toward reopening the waterway unless Washington first restores the MOU it abandoned.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in an interview with state broadcaster IRIB on Tuesday (local time) that "before any measures are taken to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the United States must fully comply with all the obligations it has violated."

He placed responsibility for the closure squarely on Washington, saying Iran had preemptively blocked the strait before full US economic sanctions took effect because the United States had failed from the outset to fulfill its obligations under the agreement.

Gharibabadi laid out three additional conditions for restoring normal passage through the strait. "The Strait of Hormuz will reopen only when US obligations are met, wars on all fronts are ended, the blockade is lifted, and a resolution to the situation in Yemen is guaranteed," he said.

He also issued a sharp warning against any potential US military intervention.

Gharibabadi shrugged off US claims of mine-clearing operations in the strait, calling them nothing more than propaganda.

Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he had just received a report from the US Navy that "all mines in the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz have been removed and detonated," adding that Iran had been notified that any vessel attempting to lay new mines "will be immediately and systematically destroyed."

Gharibabadi pushed back, asking why no ships had still been able to pass through the strait if the United States had actually cleared the mines. He then threatened that if US minesweepers entered the area, "they would make a very fine target for us."

Gharibabadi also outlined a new approach to countering US sanctions against Iran. "We must not respond to the enemy's sanctions the same way we did in the past," he said, adding that Tehran's new response would "directly target their economic interests."


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