Iran Drafts Conditions to Reopen Hormuz — Trump Says the Blockade Isn't Budging
Tehran is putting its terms for reopening the vital oil chokepoint in writing, but Washington insists the strait stays sealed to Iranian shipping until then.

Iran says it is compiling a formal list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to broader shipping, after regional mediators pressed Tehran to spell out exactly what it would take to end months of restricted passage through the critical oil corridor.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, confirmed the effort is underway, according to Al Jazeera's reporting. A spokesperson for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tehran won't agree to a full reopening unless Washington lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, pays compensation for war damage, and removes sanctions — conditions the U.S. has shown no public sign of accepting.
A narrow corridor, if nothing else
Separately, a more limited transit plan has emerged involving Oman: a designated shipping channel running through both Iranian and Omani territorial waters, paired with joint mine-clearing operations to address lingering hazards left over from the conflict, according to reporting from The Hill. That arrangement, still being worked out with Omani and Qatari mediators, is far narrower than a full reopening and wouldn't by itself resolve the standoff over sanctions and compensation.
President Trump, for his part, rejected any suggestion that direct U.S.-Iran talks are happening. "The Strait of Hormuz is open. We have control and we have the blockade. Iran's not getting anything through. Nothing is getting through. Not one ship has gotten through," he said, maintaining the administration's position that economic pressure, not negotiation, remains the primary lever against Tehran.
"NOT ONE SHIP HAS GOTTEN THROUGH" — TRUMP
The dispute unfolds roughly six months after joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets, a conflict that has left the strait's shipping lanes disrupted and global oil markets on edge ever since. Oman, Pakistan and Qatar have each taken turns trying to broker some version of a de-escalation framework, with limited public success so far.
Analysts tracking the standoff say Iran's push to formalize its conditions in writing could be read either as a genuine opening for negotiation or as a way to shift blame for the strait's continued disruption onto Washington. Given the scale of Iran's demands — an end to the port blockade, compensation, and sanctions relief — few expect a quick resolution.
What happens next largely depends on whether Oman and Qatar can get both sides to agree to the narrower shipping-corridor arrangement as an interim step, even as the larger dispute over sanctions and blockade terms remains unresolved.