Iran says US response to Strait of Hormuz reopening proposal is 'insufficient'

Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei said on Sunday that the United States’ response to Tehran’s seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz was “insufficient”, state media reported.

Iran says the waterway will stay closed to the US, and talks will not happen, until those conditions are met.

What did Iran say about the US response on the Strait of Hormuz?

Rezaei said Washington had accepted some of Iran’s seven conditions, while others remain unclear. He said the United States must clarify those points, and that Iran is no longer in the process of responding to the Americans. The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Washington needs to clarify the issues that remain unclear to Tehran, said Rezaei, who is Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. “We presented seven conditions to the Americans and clearly stated that the Strait of Hormuz would not be opened to them, and no negotiations would take place, until these conditions are met,” he said.

“In their response, they have accepted some of our conditions, while others remain unclear,” he added.

What did Iran propose to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?

Iran presented a proposal during the UN General Assembly. Under it, the waterway could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the conditions were met. The US later replied via Qatari intermediaries.

Tehran said late in September that it had received a US response to its latest proposal to resurrect the collapsed ceasefire in the Gulf. That was days after US President Donald Trump said he had rejected it.

Why does the Strait of Hormuz matter for global oil supply?

Qatar and other mediators have transmitted messages between Washington and Tehran in an effort to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war, the strait was the conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.

The war began at the end of February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.