Strait of Hormuz authority nixes US claims, says waterway remains blocked until Iran's conditions are met

The Iranian authority controlling the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf has categorically rejected American officials' claims about reopening of the waterway. "Claims and repeated posts by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked do not change the reality," the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) wrote in a post on X on Wednesday. "The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran's conditions are accepted," it added. Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy chokepoint, closed in response to the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression that targeted the country from February 28 until April 7. The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June to end the cycle that had resulted from the aggression. The Islamic Republic subsequently reopened the strait, but was forced to reimpose the closure after Washington began interfering with the legal transit mechanism that Tehran had devised for passage through the chokepoint in line with the understanding. Earlier in August, Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) conditioned reopening of the waterway to realization of such imperatives as the US's permanently ending aggression against Iran and its regional allies, lifting its illegal naval blockade and all sanctions against the Islamic Republic, returning the country's frozen assets, and paying compensation for the damage resulting from the aggression.