No attacks on allies, compensation: Iran lays down six demands to reopen Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States changes its behaviour and meets a set of Iranian demands, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Saturday.

Zolghadr said Washington must "correct its behavior" before the strategic waterway can reopen, Iran's Mehr News reported.

He listed six conditions for reopening the strait. They include an end to what Iran calls threats against its supreme leader, a permanent halt to military action against Iran and its regional allies, and the withdrawal of US naval and air forces involved in the blockade of Iran.

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Iran is also demanding compensation for damage caused during recent conflicts, the lifting of US sanctions and the release of Iran's frozen assets.

Iran's regional allies include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories, the Houthi movement in Yemen and several Iran-aligned Shia armed groups in Iraq. These groups are part of a network often referred to as Iran's "Axis of Resistance".

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'WILL NOT RETREAT'

Zolghadr said the demands reflected the will of the Iranian people. He cited nationwide rallies held over the past six days. "The Supreme National Security Council will not retreat from these demands, whether in war or in negotiations," he said.

The Iranian Army also said the new arrangements governing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz were not reversible.

IRAN WARNS OF ‘GREATER COSTS’

Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia, spokesperson for the Iranian Army, said the US had no choice but to accept the current situation in the strait.

Addressing a public gathering in Tehran on Saturday, Akraminia said the Iranian Armed Forces were standing firm until the new order in Hormuz was fully established.

He warned that the aggressor would face much greater costs than in the past if it failed to take into account the new realities in the strait.

Akraminia said the Iranian Armed Forces had both the motivation and the will to maintain the new arrangement.

OMAN TALKS NOT A FULL REOPENING

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said negotiations in Oman over transit through the Strait of Hormuz did not amount to a full reopening of the waterway.

Araghchi said the talks were focused on establishing temporary transit paths.

The designation of the provisional routes is nearing its final stages, he said, adding that the routes were being worked out on the basis of maps provided by the Iranian armed forces.

Araghchi said the process was expected to produce results soon but stressed that the measures should not be seen as a general reopening of the strait.

A complete reopening, he said, remained dependent on other conditions, particularly addressing what Iran considers violations of the agreement by Washington. The conditions include compensation to Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who have targeted the ships, also said on Saturday that reopening the strait depended on America accepting Iran's conditions and was not ​related to the Iran-Oman negotiations.

"Whenever the ⁠United States accepts Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be reopened," said Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi, according to Iran's Tasnim news agency.

Iran has targeted US bases in Gulf states and Jordan. It has also stuck ships in Hormuz ever since the interim deal collapsed.  The UAE said on Saturday that Iran had attacked a carrier affiliated with the UAE's state ​oil company with a missile as it transited Hormuz.