Iran Ups Ante for Hormuz Reopening, Listing Conditions Including Payment of War Reparations

An emboldened Iran is now demanding that America lift its sanctions and compensate the country for what it claims are violations of a June 17 ceasefire agreement before the Strait of Hormuz can be fully reopened to shipping.Iran and Oman say they are near an agreement on how to regulate shipping through the vital chokepoint, but a spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Sardar Mohebi, said in a statement Saturday that such an agreement on its own will not be enough to end Iran’s attacks on shipping.“For us, the Strait of Hormuz is not merely an economic waterway, but rather a component of geographical and strategic power,” Mr. Mohebi was quoted as saying by the Iranian state news agency, Tasnim.President Trump expressed hope this week that the talks between Iran and Oman — which sit on opposite sides of the strait — will lead to an agreement that will reopen the strait and allow for a resumption of wider negotiations aimed at ending the war.But Mr. Mohebi said Iran, which fired on another ship in the strait Saturday, will not agree to reopening the waterway without America “fully accepting Iran’s conditions and ceasing to interfere in the regional negotiations.”“Whenever the US accepts Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will definitely open,” he said according to Tasnim.Those conditions, listed Saturday in a statement from the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, included a lifting of America’s naval blockade and sanctions on Iran; the payment of war reparations; and the release of frozen Iranian assets.Other demands, according to a translation of the statement by the New York Times, call for the United States to withdraw its military assets from around Iran and end attacks on Iran’s allies in the region.Mr. Trump has insisted that sanctions can only be lifted and funds unfrozen after Iran gives up its stockpile of enriched uranium and commits to never pursue nuclear weapons. He is also demanding that Iran submit to stringent international nuclear inspections and reopen the strait.The impasse dims hopes that the Iran-Oman talks, underway since early June, will lead to a breakthrough freeing traffic through the strait and easing pressure on world oil prices.Mr. Trump said earlier this week that negotiations with Iran were continuing and that an agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz could come in the near future, Fox News reported. Speaking to reporters Thursday, he said, “I think we’re doing fine,” and that an announcement on the strait “could be soon.”The Iran-Oman talks are believed to center on how to regulate traffic through Hormuz, with each country favoring a route that passes close to its shores.Reports this week said the countries were near agreement on a deal that would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf. Iran has repeatedly launched strikes on ships hugging the Omani coast and was reported to have hit an Abu Dhabi-owned oil tanker about 18 miles east of Oman on Saturday morning.

Iran Ups Ante for Hormuz Reopening, Listing Conditions Including Payment of War Reparations

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