Iran outlines conditions for reopening Strait of Hormuz

Iran is drawing up a list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, its top security official has said.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Thursday that mediators had asked Tehran to set out its terms, and that ending the regional war was among them.

His remarks came as Qatar’s prime minister held talks in Tehran, the third mediating state to visit Iran in a week, following Pakistan and Oman delegations.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides had discussed a temporary corridor through the strait and a joint project to clear mines from it.

Rezaei said Iran and Oman had agreed on a corridor running partly through Omani and partly through Iranian waters, with vessels using a middle channel if Washington met Iran’s demands.

“The US must first take practical steps to fulfil Iran’s conditions, and then Iran will proceed to open the Strait of Hormuz,” he told the IRNA news agency.

A spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that Tehran would not allow a reopening unless Washington lifted its blockade of Iranian ports, paid compensation for war damages and removed sanctions.

Tehran effectively closed the strait after the US-Israel bombing campaign began on February 28.

It was reopened briefly under a June Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), under which Iran was to clear mines and let ships pass free of charge for 60 days while Washington lifted the blockade and eased sanctions.

Iran declared it shut again after accusing the US of violating the MoU, with the US reimposing its blockade in retaliation. The agreement expired on August 17, though it was abandoned by both sides weeks earlier.

Speaking in the Oval Office on the same day as Rezaei, US President Donald Trump declared the waterway “open”, saying that US forces had already cleared it of mines and that millions of barrels of oil were leaving the strait each day.

Trump told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that he was in no rush to resume negotiations. “I have no time schedule, none. I’m not in a hurry,” he said.

A source in his administration told Al Jazeera that the blockade would remain in place and that no talks with Iran were scheduled.