Iran Issues US New List of Demands for Opening Strait

Iran issued a broad, new set of demands to the US on Saturday for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a senior security official, laid out the conditions including an end to the US naval blockade and sanctions, withdrawal of American forces around Iran, payment of war reparations, release of frozen assets, and a halt to attacks on Iran's regional allies. The list complicates ongoing talks between Iran and Oman over how to manage the strait, which Iran largely shut down after the US and Israel began their attacks in February, the New York Times reports.

The strait will not open until the US "corrects its behavior," the statement said, per the AP. White House officials did not immediately comment. The strait runs between Iran and Oman; Iran's foreign minister said it's close to a deal with Oman on a temporary shipping route but insists any reopening hinges on US compliance with a June cease-fire memorandum that the two sides interpret differently. Traffic through the strait has fallen from about 130 ships a day to just over a dozen, per the Times.