Iran has repeatedly attacked vessels attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz without its authorization as part of its conflict with the US
And Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz “will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th,” the day the war started.
On a call with Iranian state TV, he added that Iran is discussing shipping through the strait with Oman, on the other side of Hormuz, but that there’s no current talk about reopening the crucial waterway.
Trump has announced halts to strikes on Iran on several occasions since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, only for things to unravel and fighting to resume again.
Iran’s defense minister said on X that the country was “neither surprised nor passive” following Trump’s announcement and said the Islamic Republic remains alert in the face of concrete threats from the US
While Iran’s leaders appear united in a war strategy signaling strength and endurance, a struggle for control seems to be brewing within the theocracy’s leadership between those who oppose all negotiations with the US and others who count on military pressure to win at the negotiating table.
The latest proposal would bring sides back to negotiations
Trump on Sunday said he expected negotiations to resume “tomorrow afternoon” but did not detail who would be involved in such talks.
A regional official said the proposal announced by Trump over the weekend calls for the US and Iran to return to negotiations and continue working out many of the issues that have stymied prior progress on the deal.
The official, who is involved in the mediation efforts, said the proposal calls for reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, on Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.
The US, in exchange, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil as stated in the tentative ceasefire deal, he said.