Iranupdated 1h ago2 min read
Abbas Araghchi Says Strait Of Hormuz Stays Closed Until US Accepts Iran’s Conditions
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Strait of Hormuz remains closed until US accepts Tehran’s conditions and commitments. Iran unveiled a seven-day initiative and holds indirect talks via Pakistan and Qatar.
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Hormuz closed on conditions
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed unless Washington accepts Tehran’s conditions, while Iran and the US remain in indirect talks through Pakistan and Qatar. Araghchi told Iraq’s Al Ekhbariya television that Iran presented a seven-day initiative under which the waterway would fully reopen on the sixth day, and he said, “The negotiating table is still there.”
Araghchi also said Iran wants the US to first fulfill all commitments under the Islamabad memorandum before moving to other issues, and he warned that shipping would continue to face disruption until an understanding was reached. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei rejected a key potential demand in negotiations with the US, writing on X, “Not a single gram of enriched uranium will be removed from Iran.”
Competing claims on access
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps spokesman Mohebi said the Strait of Hormuz was “100% closed,” adding that no American or Israeli warship was allowed to enter the waterway and that US warships had been pushed back 700 kilometers. Mohebi also argued that the US was incapable of keeping the strait open “even for a few hours,” and he said Iran had identified US intelligence centers and struck them “at the right time.”
The US Central Command spokesperson Tim Hawkins told Al Jazeera that 95% of vessels had successfully crossed the strait, describing the waterway as open and safe for navigation. Shafaq News reported that Tehran insisted negotiations with Washington could not resume under military threats and sanctions, while the US said the strait remained open to commercial shipping despite continued Iranian attacks.
Diplomacy, sanctions, and shipping
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei dismissed US calls for global condemnation, saying Washington was “playing the victim” despite having carried out aggression against Iran.
Baqaei wrote on X that “You cannot launch a war of choice, set the region ablaze, unleash global chaos, and then play the victim,” as the stalemate continued over a diplomatic solution to the confrontation between Iran and the US.
IndexBox reported that a nineteenth South Korean crude carrier was making its way home through an alternate Red Sea route, and it said the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries reported that by 10 a.m. on Oct. 20 a single South Korean ship had taken on crude at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu Port.
IndexBox also said the delivery represented the nineteenth crude shipment routed through the Red Sea since the Hormuz blockade started at the end of February, while it noted that diverted shipments aimed at securing domestic energy supplies were likely to persist for the time being.