Iran Declares Hormuz Strait Closed Until US Meets All Demands
Maziar Motamedi
Iran's new Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US ends the war and blockade, unfreezes Iranian assets, and agrees to a regional ceasefire. The IRGC claims it has produced more missiles and drones than it has used, while US forces continue to enforce a naval blockade on southern Iran.
Tehran, Iran – On August 18, Iran's new Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, declared that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US ends the war and blockade, releases Iran's frozen assets, and agrees to a regional ceasefire, including in Lebanon and Gaza.
In a social media post on August 18, Rezaei, a former IRGC commander-in-chief during the war, emphasized: “Iran's message is clear. Until all conditions are met, the strait will remain closed.” This statement aligns with the position of his predecessor, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, and newly appointed military commanders who assert Tehran is ready to continue resisting the US-Israel alliance.
During his first meeting with a delegation led by Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Cong Peiwu on August 18, Rezaei called for stronger ties with Beijing, praising China for not supporting US resolutions against Iran at the United Nations. He also stated that any potential agreement with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz is separate and unrelated to Washington.
However, the deal with Oman that Tehran said last week was finalized and awaiting high-level confirmation has yet to materialize, as military operations continue in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
On August 18, a US warship fired two Hellfire missiles from a naval helicopter at a Panama-flagged vessel to enforce the naval blockade on southern Iranian ports. This is the 12th ship attacked by US forces since April and the third since the blockade was reinstated nearly a month ago, following the collapse of the June Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Iran and the US.
Mediators such as Pakistan and Qatar say they continue efforts to bring the two sides closer to a diplomatic solution, as the 60-day deadline of the repeatedly violated MoU expires next week.
Speaking on August 20, IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi warned: “If Iran is threatened again, hundreds of thousands of miles of energy pipelines, thousands of power plants, all US and non-US systems, and even global internet infrastructure will be at risk.” He also claimed that the US once had 30-40 warships in the region before the war but now has none in the Persian Gulf, calling the depletion of air defense missiles and precision munitions in the Pentagon's arsenal a “major threat” to US policymakers.
Advisor to the IRGC commander-in-chief, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said on state television on August 19 that the force has produced more ballistic missiles and drones during the war than it has fired into the region, relying primarily on domestic capabilities. “Even if the war lasts for years, our ballistic missiles will still strike the enemy,” Naqdi said.
This week, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed six new figures to top military positions, consolidating his inner circle, including Hossein Taeb as commander of the IRGC's Basij force. Ali Abdollahi, head of the Khatam al-Anbiya joint war command, was appointed to lead the General Staff of the Armed Forces, tasked with integrating operational coordination between the IRGC and the regular military, enhancing missile, drone, naval, ground, cyber, and asymmetric warfare capabilities, and preparing for action around the Strait of Hormuz.
IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi pledged cooperation with other military leaders to counter the “arrogance of American-Zionist hegemony.”
Amid growing economic hardship, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on August 20 that the enemy may seek to defeat the Islamic Republic by capitalizing on nationwide protests fueled by public discontent. He stated: “The current war is more complex than before, and the enemy is pursuing the goal of collapsing from within.”
The border guard commander of Kurdistan province, Ali Akbar Javidan, dismissed US allegations about potential cross-border attacks by Kurdish separatist fighters from Iraq into Iranian territory, calling them “paranoid,” and affirmed that the country's borders are “completely safe and inviolable.”
Meanwhile, most of Iran's approximately 90 million people are struggling with the worsening effects of the war and heightened domestic security. Jamshid, a 36-year-old resident of central Tehran, told Al Jazeera: “I've given up predicting what will happen. I don't expect anything better this year, or even next year, but I hope this situation doesn't last much longer because our youth are being drained by all this.”
