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Hormuz bill amid war
Iranian lawmakers tabled a new plan for the management of the Strait of Hormuz as the hardline-dominated parliament reconvened after nearly five months of confrontation with the United States.
During Monday night’s unannounced parliamentary session, members of Iran’s assembly waved religion-based red flags of vengeance for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials killed on the first day of the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission of parliament, wrote in a social media post on Tuesday that, "We remain steadfast in defending our red lines, particularly regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz," and added, "This is the first step; subsequent measures are forthcoming."
The official text of the plan has not been publicly divulged, but the idea of such legislation has been discussed for months by lawmakers who oppose negotiations with the US and want to formalise Iranian control and sovereignty over the strait, through which one-fifth of global energy passes in peacetime.
The escalation has also been accompanied by US air attacks, with Iranian authorities saying the US military has launched hundreds of air attacks over the past week impacting at least 11 provinces and killing more than 20 people, while the major port city of Bandar Abbas and other cities and islands overlooking the Strait of Hormuz have borne the brunt of attacks.
No talks, defense focus
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran has no plans to hold negotiations with the United States at present and is focused on defense, as APA reports citing Iran International.
Speaking at a ceremony in Tehran on Wednesday, Baghaei said, "We currently have no plans for negotiations and are focused on defense," in response to claims by the US that its ongoing attacks on Iran would force Tehran back to the negotiating table.
Baghaei said Iran no longer considers itself bound by the terms of the MoU signed with the United States on June 17, citing Washington's repeated violations of its commitments under the agreement, and he argued that "An MoU is a set of mutual commitments" and that in the event of a breach by the other party, Iran would refrain from fulfilling its obligations.
The comments came amid ongoing US attacks on coastal areas in southern Iran that Washington claims are carried out to weaken Iran's ability to "target ships" in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran rejected the US accusations and said responsibility for managing transit through the strait has been delegated to Iran under Article 5 of the 14-point MoU.
In a separate statement, Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran "must always be prepared" for war while stressing the need to "use the tools of diplomacy" to advance national interests.
Strikes, blockade, and stakes
The dispute over the Strait of Hormuz has been tied to US actions including the reimposition of a naval blockade of Iran’s southern parts and rescinded waivers for Iranian oil exports and transactions, with the escalation already impacting markets in Iran.
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Al Jazeera reported that Iran’s rial slid to a rate of about 1.85 million against the US dollar in Tehran’s open market on Tuesday, nearing an all-time low of 1.9 million reached in May, and that the main index of the Tehran Stock Exchange losing another 42,000 points on Tuesday left it below 5 million points.
In response to the blockade, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to close "all other export corridors that benefit the U.S. and its allies," and said, "Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to all," according to Iranian state media.
US Central Command said it disabled an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward an Iranian port in the Arabian Gulf, writing that the commercial vessel ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the U.S. blockade and that a U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel after firing hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack.
As the standoff continues, the stakes described in the sources include the possibility of further disruption of shipping routes, with analysts referenced in the reporting warning Iran could attempt to disrupt the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another key shipping route connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
