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Iran insists on keeping control over Hormuz, senior Iranian sources say

Oman stretches along the southern coast of the Strait and Iran is planning talks with the sultanate to define transit paths through the waterway, Tehran said on Monday.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 1, 2026

Ariana News

Iran is determined to win international recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz and ability to levy fees on ships entering or leaving the Gulf even if it has to do so by force, two senior Iranian sources said.

Under this month’s interim deal with the U.S. to end their three-month conflict, ‌Iran agreed to let ships pass through the Strait for 60 days without charge. But it believes the wording of the agreement allows it to keep control of which ships may pass and which route they take through the narrow waterway, Reuters reported.

It is also determined to secure lasting formal acceptance of this control once the interim phase expires, and its negotiators will not move to other areas of dispute in ongoing peace talks with Washington until that has been agreed, the sources said.

If the interim deal ends without being extended, Iran would start charging ships for passage in mid-August, though it has not yet laid out any list of what fees it will charge or how. Iran closed the Strait when the war began and Iranian officials have said authorities charged some vessels navigation or other fees to leave the Gulf.

Any lasting Iranian ⁠control over the Strait of Hormuz, with formalities and fees for ships, would add costs, delays and risks to all shipping through a waterway that before the war transported a fifth of global energy supplies plus other critical goods.

Passage through the Strait was never previously subject to fees and Tehran’s position runs directly counter to U.S. interpretations of the interim Memorandum of Understanding agreed on June 17, and to Washington’s stance on what the ultimate post-war arrangements will be.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that there would be no tolls charged for passage through the Strait unless Washington decided to impose them itself. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a meeting with Gulf states that no country had the right to block shipping or impose fees or tolls for passage through an international waterway.

Iran interprets the interim deal as meaning it can maintain control over all passage through the Strait, though without collecting fees during the interim phase of the deal, and that while it has to discuss arrangements with Gulf states, it is not obliged to reach an agreement with them, the sources said.

Oman stretches along the southern coast of the Strait and Iran is planning talks with the sultanate to define transit paths through the waterway, Tehran said on Monday.

However, Iran shot at four ships over the weekend that tried to traverse the Strait on the Omani side without first getting Iranian permission, triggering a brief ‌but intense ⁠exchange of fire with the United States.

One of the senior officials said Iran would not let the situation return to the pre-war status quo. Instead, it believes new arrangements must govern Hormuz including Iran choosing how vessels enter and leave the Strait, holding the right to deny entry to any it suspects of threatening Iranian security, and charging fees for compulsory services it provides.

Iran is ready to impose its demands on the Strait through force if there is no agreement by other countries to accept its terms, the official added, saying Tehran would not back down even if it led to renewed – and intensified – confrontation with the U.S.

The second senior Iranian official said that having survived what Tehran had seen as its ⁠biggest potential threat – a war with the U.S. and Israel – Iran believed it had a “historic opportunity” to secure a long-term advantage.

Ship-owning countries would eventually accept Iranian management of the Strait because of the growing cost of the dispute, and Washington would accept it to ensure uninterrupted global energy supplies, the official added.

However, Iran may be overplaying its hand and miscalculating how far Washington would be willing to accept what would be seen as an enormous concession, said Ali Ansari, professor of modern ⁠history at St Andrews University, read the report.

“The prospect of this conflict reigniting is much higher than people think because neither side thinks they’ve lost,” he said.

Neither Iran nor the U.S. is a signatory of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that designates Hormuz as an international strait, although Oman, which stretches along its southern coast, is.

While the waterway is split between the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, its status as an international strait under the convention requires ⁠free passage.

The convention is widely regarded, including by the U.S., as customary international law.

It is also the agreement under which Iran could claim its territorial waters extend 12 miles rather than the mere 3 miles off its shore under other maritime conventions, said Chris O’Flaherty, a former British navy captain and specialist in naval warfare and law. The Strait of Hormuz is just over 20 miles wide at its narrowest point.

“This is an intensely political matter in which most people think international law is settled. However, Iran has decided to challenge that,” O’Flaherty said.

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Iran, US continue escalating attacks, recriminations over peace deal

Regional

Iran says it is in ‘existential war with America’

Published

11 hours ago

July 16, 2026

Ariana News

The U.S. launched two waves of attacks on Iran’s coastal defenses and missile sites on Wednesday after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, while Iran struck back by targeting U.S. military sites in neighboring countries in what it called an “existential war” with America.

The latest escalation comes days after a ‌fragile truce collapsed, raising the specter of a return to full-scale war, with Iran once again threatening to shut off more regional energy exports, Reuters reported.

Hostilities have intensified since Iran said late on Saturday it had closed the Strait of Hormuz. Military operations are also keeping ships from transiting the vital artery, which carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, closed at a one-month high of $84.95 a barrel on Wednesday.

U.S. Central Command said the military had attacked coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island starting around 6:00 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), then launched a second wave of strikes against multiple cities nine hours later.

“U.S. forces struck Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities,” it said in a statement, adding it also hit targets in Bandar Abbas, ⁠home to Iran’s largest port and key navy and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards facilities on the Strait of Hormuz.

“Earlier this morning, American forces struck coastal defense and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island during a 90-minute wave,” the U.S. military added.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck U.S. military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. The Guards said they targeted a gathering for U.S. military personnel and a radar system at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait with a missile and drone attack.

Three U.S. officials told Reuters that U.S. strikes aimed at forcing open the strait are also targeting Iranian military capabilities the U.S. would want to destroy before executing more complex operations.

The U.S. military also said it disabled an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward Iran’s Kharg Island after it ignored multiple warnings, firing Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. Since resuming a naval blockade against Iran on Tuesday, the U.S. has redirected two ships and disabled another, the military said.

Iranian news media reported a series of explosions, mainly in coastal areas such as Bandar Abbas. Other explosions or projectile strikes were reported around the city of Ahvaz, just inland from the northern end of the Gulf, and Konarak, Sirik and Qeshm in southern Iran.

Press TV reported at least two explosions in the central Iranian city of Khondab, about 250 km (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Mehr news agency reported ‌Iran activated its ⁠air defenses in Tehran to counter “hostile threats.”

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that the U.S. attacks struck near a hospital in Ahvaz that houses a pediatric cancer center, forcing the temporary evacuation of the hospital. Families have come out to the streets around the hospital to care for their children, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) said.

After the first wave, Tehran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf issued a statement declaring that Iranian security depended on maintaining what he called “Iranian arrangements” in the strait.

“We are in an essential and existential war with America,” Qalibaf said.

The war has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where conflict restarted between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. In July alone, U.S. attacks have killed 35 people, Tasnim reported, citing a health ministry official.

TRUMP ⁠SAYS IRAN WANTS TO SETTLE

Trump struck a triumphant note, as he has repeatedly since the U.S. and Israel started hostilities on February 28, saying, “We’ll have Iran defeated soon. They’ll be defeated very soon.”

Speaking at a roundtable event at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, Trump also claimed the Iranians want to “settle so badly.”

“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” Trump said.

On Tuesday, Trump said U.S. negotiators had ⁠been in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them “you better make a deal.”

Iran’s military spokesperson said that the only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was for the U.S. to comply with the 14-point memorandum of understanding that the two sides signed in June, and the implementation of “Iranian regulations” regarding ship traffic in the strait.

Even amid the hostilities, there was a possible sign of goodwill. Trump said Iran had allowed an American who was “wrongfully detained” under the Biden ⁠administration in 2024 to leave the country.

“The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Human rights attorney Jared Genser identified the released American as Dena Karari, who had been prevented from leaving Iran since December 2024.

“Dena is now safe and traveling back to the United States,” Genser wrote on X, thanking Trump for his efforts to free her.

Regional

Iran says more than 30 civilians killed in latest attacks as tensions with US escalate

The conflict has escalated sharply in recent weeks, with both countries exchanging strikes amid growing tensions over security in the Strait of Hormuz.

Published

1 day ago

July 15, 2026

Ariana News

Iran says more than 30 civilians have been killed in recent attacks in the country’s south as military tensions with the United States continue to intensify.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Wednesday that the casualties occurred during recent attacks targeting southern Iran, although she did not specify the locations or provide further details.

“In the recent attacks on the southern part of the country, more than 30 civilians lost their lives,” Mohajerani said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported that fresh US strikes targeted three locations in Bushehr Province on Wednesday morning. According to the province’s governor, no injuries were reported in the latest attacks.

Bushehr, on Iran’s Gulf coast, is home to key energy infrastructure, including the country’s only operational nuclear power plant, making it a strategically significant region.

The latest strikes come a day after US President Donald Trump said military operations against Iran would continue and intensify unless Tehran agreed to resume negotiations. Trump warned that the United States could begin targeting Iran’s power plants and bridges in the coming days if diplomatic efforts fail.

The conflict has escalated sharply in recent weeks, with both countries exchanging strikes amid growing tensions over security in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil shipping routes.

Despite a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding aimed at reducing hostilities and creating a framework for peace talks, fighting has continued. Iran has also submitted a letter to the United Nations accusing the United States of violating the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and undermining efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire.

The latest developments have heightened international concerns that the conflict could further destabilize the region and disrupt global energy supplies.

Regional

Trump says US attacking Iran capabilities related to Strait of Hormuz

Trump also said that ‌it ⁠could be that there are Iranian drones in Cuba.

Published

3 days ago

July 14, 2026

Ariana News

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday ‌that the United States was attacking Iran’s capabilities related to the Strait of Hormuz, amid renewed military action between the two countries, Reuters reported.

The US military ⁠said on Monday it was launching fresh strikes against Iran but Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Monday that he had not decided that a negotiated settlement could not be reached with Tehran.