Iran denies Trump's claim of US 'control' over Hormuz, says strait remains closed

Iran has rejected US President Donald Trump's claim that Washington has "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz, insisting the crucial waterway will remain closed until the US accepts its demands and changes its "behavior."

According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Mohsen Rezaie, the newly appointed chairman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told China's ambassador to Tehran, Cong Peiwu: "As long as the US has not changed its behavior and has not accepted Iran's conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened."

The Strait of Hormuz, which carries one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas in peacetime, has become a major flashpoint in the US-Israel war against Iran, with peace talks stalled until the management of the waterway is resolved. Iran closed the strait shortly after US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran began in late February.

Iran now says it is only in talks with Oman—whose territorial waters the strait also passes through—about the future management of the waterway.

Commercial shipping traffic through the strait remains severely disrupted, with attacks on vessels continuing on Tuesday as US forces targeted a ship believed to be heading to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman.

In a related development, six people were killed in a Houthi attack on a Saudi cargo ship in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, according to Yemeni officials, in what is described as the first casualties from Houthi attacks on ships since the US-Israel war against Iran began.

What did Trump say about the Strait of Hormuz?

"We have total control of the Strait of Hormuz. We have it under control; nobody else does, only us," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday.

However, in reality, the situation is more complex. The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said shipping activity remains low and attacks as well as "harassment activities" continue in the Strait of Hormuz as both Iran and the US maintain blockades in and around the area.

Meanwhile, Iran has made clear it has no intention of reopening the waterway unless Washington meets its demands, including the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen assets, and compensation for attacks, among other things.

On social media platform X, Rezaei also called for an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports as well as a regional ceasefire, including in Gaza and Lebanon.

Developments at Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb

A US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman after the vessel allegedly attempted to breach the US blockade on Iranian ports, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM). The attack disabled the ship's steering system.

According to CENTCOM, the M/V Vela Nova ignored warnings before the helicopter fired missiles into its engine room, rendering it uncontrollable. The US military reported no casualties among the crew.

The conflict has now spread to another crucial regional sea lane: the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea off Yemen and Saudi Arabia's western coast, where Iran-backed Houthi forces are targeting Saudi ships amid renewed fighting in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has announced a new maritime coalition to protect the waterway.

On Tuesday, six people were killed in a Houthi attack on a cargo ship in the strait, according to Yemeni officials. Four crew members on the Egyptian-owned Tihamah were killed, along with two Yemeni rescue workers responding to the attack. Ten others were injured. The Houthis have not directly commented on the attack.

Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb are both critical maritime chokepoints. In addition to one-fifth of global oil and gas trade passing through Hormuz, approximately 11% of global seaborne oil and 8% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transits Bab al-Mandeb.

The conflict has severely impacted traffic through these waterways, causing oil prices to surge. The number of tracked vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to a one-week low on Tuesday.

Shipping data from Kpler, cited by Reuters, showed eight vessels crossing the strait, below the 10-day average of about 12 ships and the lowest daily figure since August 5. Before the war, about 130 ships passed through the strait daily.

Potential for war expansion

The latest attacks at Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb indicate the conflict shows no signs of cooling down. Although both sides signaled openness to negotiations last week, the US and Iran have escalated their confrontational rhetoric in recent days.

On Monday, Trump said he would demand compensation from Iran for deaths and injuries related to decades of conflict and attacks, following Iran's new demands for compensation for the US-Israel war.

However, US media reported that the country may be running low on weapons, particularly air-defense interceptors used in Patriot and THAAD systems, which could endanger US forces and allies in the region. Trump and other US officials have dismissed these reports.

Meanwhile, an adviser to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that Iran is developing capabilities to conduct operations on "enemy territory." So far, Iran has limited itself to attacks on US military assets and energy infrastructure in neighboring Gulf states and Jordan.

Oman-Iran talks on Hormuz

Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations with Oman on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz, with new shipping routes, had progressed and were in the "final stages."

Iran said it is not negotiating directly with the US on the matter—only with Oman, which Tehran has proposed co-managing the strait. On Tuesday, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said he had heard positive messages from both Tehran and Muscat about reopening Hormuz.

Prospects for a broader US-Iran peace deal

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to meet Iranian officials as part of efforts to persuade Tehran to resume talks with Washington under the interim Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) mediated by Islamabad and Doha in June. The deal is set to expire next week.

The MoU's vague wording, under which Iran agreed to keep Hormuz open for at least 60 days, led to the deal's collapse over disagreements about who controls the strait. Iran subsequently fired on some ships transiting the waterway that it had not approved.

Naqvi's visit is his sixth to Iran as part of diplomatic efforts to end the US-Iran war.

On the prospects of future talks between the two longtime adversaries succeeding, analyst Negar Mortazavi said the key question is whether the escalating rhetoric from both sides is "opening negotiating positions or setting real red lines."

"If both sides are willing to compromise, there is still a path to ending the conflict and reopening the strait," Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, told Al Jazeera. "If not, Hormuz could remain restricted and the confrontation risks becoming another endless conflict in the Middle East."