Settled
Iran says Strait of Hormuz will stay shut until MOU conditions are met
In short
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened until seven conditions based on the Islamabad memorandum of understanding are met, Iran’s state-run Nour News reported, according to Reuters. He said the United States had recently submitted a proposal through mediators but that the era of one-sided demands was over. The two sides remain stuck on the order in which any deal would be carried out.
Why it matters
The Strait of Hormuz is a central point in the standoff between Iran and the United States, and the deadlock over its reopening keeps both the closure and the wider conflict unresolved. Because the dispute now turns on implementation order rather than the terms themselves, a deal appears unlikely to move quickly. A prolonged closure keeps the confrontation between the two countries in place with consequences beyond the region.
Key facts
- Iran’s parliament speaker and negotiation team head Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened until seven conditions based on the Islamabad memorandum of understanding are satisfied. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Ghalibaf said the United States had recently put forward a proposal through mediators but that “the era of dragging out the process and imposing one-sided demands is over”. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Iran’s “seven-day confidence building plan” proposed at last month’s UN General Assembly called for the United States to lift its naval blockade, return frozen funds, exempt Iranian oil exports from sanctions and halt fighting on all fronts. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian signed an MOU in July with Pakistan’s mediation containing a roadmap to end the war; it collapsed over disagreement on control of the Strait of Hormuz and talks stalled. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met mediators in Doha on September 29 and received the US reply, the contents of which were not disclosed. [ 1 , 3 ]
- A source told Reuters the two sides’ core disagreement is the order in which the plan would be implemented. [ 1 , 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened until the seven conditions based on the Islamabad memorandum of understanding are met. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian signed an MOU in July with Pakistan’s mediation containing a roadmap to end the war. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Iran put forward a “seven-day confidence building plan” to the United States on the sidelines of last month’s UN General Assembly. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met mediators in Doha on September 29 and received the US reply. [ 1 , 3 ]
- The talks are stalled, with the core dispute being the order in which the agreement would be implemented. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Disagreement over control of the Strait of Hormuz caused the July provisional agreement to collapse. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- Whether the US reply delivered in Doha satisfied Iran’s demands. No outlet reported the contents of the reply; Yonhap and Seoul Economic Daily said only that Ghalibaf’s renewed pressure suggests the answer was not satisfactory, which is their inference, not a stated fact.
- What the seven conditions in the Islamabad MOU are. The documents refer to seven conditions but list only the four items in the seven-day plan, so the full set is not given.
- Which side is required to act first. Seoul Economic Daily reported that the US is known to demand Iran open the strait first, attributing this to what is “known”, while Yonhap cited a single source saying the core disagreement is the order of implementation.
- The exact wording and terms of the US proposal passed through mediators. All three documents say the contents were not made public.
What local media are saying
Official sourcesYonhap, carrying Reuters’ account of Iran’s state-run Nour News, led with Ghalibaf’s statement, detailed the four demands in Iran’s seven-day plan, the Doha reply and the sequencing dispute, and noted that no satisfactory answer appears to have been received.
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Timeline, local time
- Yonhap reports that Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless its conditions are met, citing Ghalibaf via Nour News and Reuters. [ 1 ]
- Asia Economy reports the same remarks and that the two sides differ over the order of implementation. [ 2 ]
- Seoul Economic Daily reports the remarks and lists the four conditions in Iran’s seven-day plan. [ 3 ]