Tehran Says Hormuz Will 'Never Return' to Pre-War Status

By Daniel Okafor

Roughly a fifth of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's chief negotiator now says the waterway will "never return" to its status before the US-Israel war on Iran. Mohammad Bagheraf—Mohammad Bagheraf Ghalibaf, parliament speaker and Tehran's top negotiator—made the remark in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera published Wednesday. For tanker owners, charterers and refiners routed through the Gulf, that is the sentence worth underlining.

What did Ghalibaf actually say?

He said Iran and Oman reached an understanding to oversee the strait as part of Tehran's seven-point proposal to end the eight-month conflict. His legal claim is expansive. "There are no 'free waters' [international waters] there, and the 1982 [UN Convention on the Law of the Sea] does not apply to the strait," he told Al Jazeera. "The regulations within the Strait of Hormuz are governed by the laws of the two littoral states that border it."

That is a direct challenge to the transit regime under which crude and products have moved through the chokepoint for decades. Treat it as negotiating position, not settled law.

What are the seven conditions?

Ghalibaf said Tehran delivered its response to the US through a Qatari mediator. Iran is waiting for an official reply. "The ball is now in the American court," he said.

The conditions, as outlined by the chief negotiator:

• Lifting the US-imposed naval blockade and sanctions
• Release of Iranian frozen funds
• Ending fighting on all fronts
• An explicit announcement of an end to the war

He said these demands formed part of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding signed in June. Implementation, he stressed, must precede any negotiations with Washington.

"If America limits itself to what has been agreed upon without making excessive demands or engaging in behaviour that breeds distrust, then, naturally, reaching an agreement is possible," Ghalibaf said. "What stands in the way of an agreement is our lack of trust in the United States."

The takeaway: Tehran has priced in trust, and the premium is seven conditions deep.

Is there a path back to talks?

Possibly, and by an indirect route. Ghalibaf said US officials asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate direct negotiations with Tehran during a visit to Moscow.

He also warned against new US attacks. President Donald Trump, he said, would face another defeat and political pressure from the new Congress that takes office in January. Iran, he added, is determined to move beyond a state of "no war and no peace" and urged a sustainable deterrent capability, including military capabilities.

One long sentence for the desk: eight months of conflict, a naval blockade, frozen funds and a mediation channel running through Doha, Moscow and Muscat together explain why freight, insurance and crude differentials tied to the Gulf remain priced for politics rather than tonnage. In plain words: the war may pause, but the old Hormuz is off the table, by Tehran's account.

And Yemen?

Ghalibaf addressed the fighting between the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government and the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah. "No one should interfere" in it, he said. "If both the government in Yemen and Saudi Arabia were to ask for our help, we would certainly offer our assistance to help resolve their conflict."

Iran previously offered to facilitate talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group in October, following a series of deadly attacks on the kingdom. Any Red Sea de-escalation with Iranian fingerprints would matter to owners of the Suez-routed tonnage that has spent months dodging the Bab el-Mandeb.

The watch item: Washington's official response to the seven conditions, and whether the Oman understanding on Hormuz ever appears on paper.