Iran declares Hormuz closure until US meets its demands and changes its ‘behaviour’ as global energy prices tick higher.
(Al Jazeera) – Iran has refuted President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington has “total control” of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the critical waterway will remain closed until the United States accepts its demands and changes its “behaviour”.
According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Mohsen Rezaie, the newly appointed head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told China’s ambassador to Tehran, Cong Peiwu: “As long as America does not change its behaviour and does not accept Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened.”
The Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global oil and natural gas is shipped during peacetime, has emerged as a key flashpoint in the US-Israel war on Iran, with peace talks stalled until the question of its management is resolved. Iran closed the strait shortly after US-Israeli bombing of Iran began at the end of February.
It currently says it is only talking to Oman, whose territorial waters the strait also passes through, about the future management of the waterway.
Commercial shipping remains severely disrupted in the strait, with attacks on vessels continuing on Tuesday when US forces targeted a vessel they said was headed for an Iranian port, in the Gulf of Oman.
