‘Will announce it’: Iran denies closing Strait of Hormuz, says 'no immediate plan' to shut global oil route

Iran dismissed claims that the Strait of Hormuz has been indefinitely closed amid its escalating conflict in West Asia with the United States and Israel, saying there is currently no intention to shut the critical maritime passage. 

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“We have not yet closed the Strait of Hormuz. If we are going to close it, we are going to announce it… It has not been closed by us. We have no intention to do it until further notice,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said on March 6. 

The Strait of Hormuz — a narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea — is one of the world’s most important energy corridors, carrying a significant share of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. 

Khatibzadeh’s remarks come a day after Iran’s powerful military arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that passage through the strait would remain under the control of the Islamic Republic during wartime. The group also claimed that a US tanker had been struck in the northern Gulf. 

In a statement carried by Iranian state media, the Guards said that “in time of war, passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be under the control of the Islamic Republic.” 

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2026 in New Delhi, Khatibzadeh accused Washington and Tel Aviv of launching aggression against Iran based on “flat lies”. 

“My country is under attack based on flat lies that Iran was imposing a threat,” he said, adding that the reasons cited by the United States for attacking Iran change depending on the audience. 

He alleged that geopolitical ambitions and the “delusion of a Greater Israel” were behind the conflict. 

“America has decided to put an end to the existence of Iran. The Israelis have been promising this for many decades due to their delusion about Greater Israel. We are fighting a heroic, nationalistic war to push back those aggressors,” he said, adding that Iran would seek to end American military presence in the Persian Gulf. 

Khatibzadeh also condemned the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during joint US-Israeli strikes, calling the targeting of a head of state unprecedented. 

“Should a head of state be targeted when there are problems between countries? This is unprecedented. If this becomes the new norm, it will be very dangerous,” he said. 

The Iranian diplomat further criticised the United States over the attack on the Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which Tehran says was struck in international waters while participating in a naval exercise as a guest of the Indian Navy. 

“This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident. That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed,” Khatibzadeh said, adding that several Iranian sailors had been killed. 

Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the frigate had been hit without warning roughly 2,000 miles from Iran’s shores. 

“The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea… Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning. Mark my words: the US will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X (formally twitter).