Iran's Revolutionary Guards: Hormuz reopening hinges on US meeting all conditions
The Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which about one-fifth of the world's oil passes, has been under effective Iranian blockade since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February. On Sunday (August 9, 2026), Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they would not reopen the waterway until the United States meets all of Tehran's conditions, including compensation for war damages.
The Guards' statement follows a list of demands laid out on Saturday by Iran's security chief, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, as reported by the Tasnim news agency. These include an end to what Iran calls "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq", the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets, and compensation for wartime damage.
Tehran says it wants to charge tolls for passage through the strait, which was free to transit before the conflict. Iran has also targeted ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route through Iranian waters. The repeated attacks led to the collapse of an April ceasefire and have complicated efforts to implement a June memorandum, brokered by Oman, that set out a roadmap for peace talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman over transit and management of the strait were "approaching the final stages", but added that reopening Hormuz "is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation" of the June agreement. He denied that Iran was negotiating directly with the United States, saying they were merely "exchanging messages" via intermediaries.
The Revolutionary Guards on Sunday said their strategy was to maintain the closure "until the enemy accepts all our conditions... the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway".
The latest comments came as transit through Hormuz has dropped significantly. The United Arab Emirates' foreign ministry on Saturday condemned what it called a "hostile Iranian attack" that targeted a tanker belonging to ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) with a missile while it was transiting the strait, causing no casualties. Later on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a ship was hit by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that was extinguished and no casualties. It was unclear whether they were referring to the same ship.
Oman's foreign ministry, which has been mediating between Washington and Tehran, condemned "repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz" without naming Iran. It said that "ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding in a positive and constructive atmosphere", and urged against any actions that might jeopardise progress.
The previous Iran-US deal — meant to serve as a jumping-off point for negotiations on a permanent settlement — had said Tehran and Muscat would work out future arrangements for the strait in consultation with other Gulf countries and "in line with the applicable international law". International law generally forbids tolling in such waterways.
In a related development, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced on Sunday that they had struck a Saudi oil facility on the Red Sea coast, after the Saudi government said it had extinguished a fire at the site. The Houthis have been attempting to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea, another vital waterway.
Separately, Turkey's foreign minister said on Saturday he expected Egypt to join a joint defence agreement between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan designed to stabilise the region, calling Egypt a "natural partner on all issues". The potential expansion of the security pact comes as regional tensions remain high following the US-Israel strikes on Iran and the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
