Iran threatens regional infrastructure as it awaits US reply on Hormuz plan

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Tuesday threatened to attack infrastructure across the Middle East if Iran's security is not guaranteed. The warning comes as Tehran awaits a formal US response to its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which President Donald Trump has already dismissed.

What did Iran threaten to attack?

Ghalibaf said no infrastructure in the region would remain safe unless Iran's security is guaranteed. He also linked the threat to oil sales, saying that if Iran cannot sell its oil, no one else will. Ghalibaf is also Iran's parliament speaker, and his remarks were carried in video released by state TV.

"In a region where we cannot sell oil, no one else will sell oil either; or if our security is not guaranteed, no infrastructure will remain safe," he said.

When will the US respond to Iran's Hormuz proposal?

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expected a formal answer from the US on Tuesday, state media reported. Speaking late Monday, he said Qatari intermediaries had presented ideas that Iran discussed, and would raise the matter with the American side once more before the final US response is conveyed to Tehran.

Araghchi, who was in New York for the UN General Assembly, said the Qataris hoped this would be done by Tuesday. Last week, he held discussions in New York with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. He added that the current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz.

What conditions does Iran set for reopening the Strait of Hormuz?

Araghchi said reopening the strait depends on the fulfilment of certain conditions that Iran has communicated to the other side. As a precondition for ending its blockade, Iran is demanding a seven-day ceasefire across the Middle East. That would include Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah is regularly bombarded by Israel.

Tehran is also demanding the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad and the lifting of sanctions on its oil sector. A further demand is an end to the US naval blockade on its ports.

Is the Strait of Hormuz open or closed?

Both sides claim to have control of Hormuz. The US says oil is moving through the waterway, while Tehran insists it is closed. On Tuesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the country's military, said the US claim that the strait remains open is false.

Spokesperson Hossein Mohebi said: "Sneaking a few hundred barrels of oil through under the cover of darkness, with transponders turned off and at great cost, does not constitute the strait being open."

"A truly open strait is one where, as in the past, at least 125 vessels would pass through daily, transporting a minimum of 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum products. Any vessel attempting to pass through sustains damage: either we strike it, or it hits a mine," he added.

Why does the Strait of Hormuz matter and what is the state of the conflict?

Iran has maintained a blockade on commercial shipping through Hormuz since the war began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic. Before the conflict, the shipping route carried a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas. The US military has since maintained a counterblockade of Iran's ports to prevent Tehran from exporting oil.

Fighting has subsided in recent weeks, though Tehran has continued to target ships in the strait. Washington has fallen back on an economic pressure campaign instead of further military action.