Iran issues demands for strait reopening

Iran on Saturday set preconditions for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, including compensation for war damages, complicating a potential deal to open the waterway essential to the world economy.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman over transit and management of the strait were “approaching the final stages,” but added that the reopening of Hormuz “is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation” of the June agreement.

Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr laid out a list of demands for reopening the strait, including an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq.”

He also demanded the lifting of a parallel US naval blockade of Iran, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage, the Tasnim News Agency reported.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Hormuz’s reopening had “nothing to do with the negotiations between Iran and Oman,” adding that the “enemy is forced to accept Iran’s conditions for the opening of the strait.”

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday condemned what it called a “hostile Iranian attack that targeted a tanker belonging to ADNOC [Abu Dhabi National Oil Company] with a missile while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, without causing casualties.”

Later the same day, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a ship was hit by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that was extinguished but no casualties. It was unclear whether they were referring to the same ship.

On Friday, ADNOC had put out a statement saying that since the start of the war, 15 of its vessels had been attacked in Hormuz, “including three vessels this week alone.”

Oman’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned “repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” without naming Iran.

“Ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding in a positive and constructive atmosphere,” it said, urging against any actions that might jeopardize the progress.

Beijing has quietly confirmed the deaths of two Chinese sailors in a collision in the contested South China Sea, according to government statements nearly a year after the incident. In August last year, a China Coast Guard ship collided bow first with a Chinese naval destroyer while chasing a Philippine patrol boat near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), video footage released by Manila showed. A China Coast Guard spokesperson confirmed at the time that there had been a confrontation, but did not mention the collision, nor injuries or deaths.

The Chinese People’s Armed Police Force said on social media on Wednesday

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