Iran's Rezaei says Strait of Hormuz stays shut until conditions are met
Iran's security chief rules out negotiations even as Foreign Minister Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff have been discussing terms for reopening the strait.
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Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
UpdateWednesday, September 23, 2026 at 3:30 PM ET
The published piece described talks as constructive and moving toward a deal; the later filing reports the US has rejected Iran's reopening proposal.
The United States has rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Yonhap reports.
UpdateWednesday, September 23, 2026 at 10:10 AM ET
Rezaei says Tehran has given Washington a four to five day deadline to meet its conditions, after which the Strait of Hormuz stays shut and negotiations remain off. He also warned that neighbouring countries' airports helping the US halt Iranian flights would be unable to operate. Separately, Araghchi warned European officials against backing US and Israeli actions in the region, calling them war crimes.
Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei says the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen and there will be no negotiations until Iran's conditions are met.
Those conditions center on the U.S. naval presence in the strait. Iran has tied any reopening to lifting the American naval blockade, a position Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi repeated when he met Witkoff, while also calling for an end to the war across all fronts it describes as resistance fronts. Witkoff, speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, called the talks constructive and promising and said mediators were continuing their work.
Shipping through the strait has stayed severely disrupted. All crew members were evacuated from a ship attacked in the strait, with two people injured, and the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency has since reported a new incident there without giving details on the vessel or what happened. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has separately said a nuclear-armed Iran could threaten to close the strait outright.
Brent crude stood near $99 a barrel on Tuesday. Rezaei's absolute language, closed until Iran's terms are met, no talks in the meantime, sits against days of U.S. officials describing the back-channel exchanges as moving toward a deal. The contradiction turns the tone more bearish for anyone pricing oil or shipping risk on the assumption that diplomacy was making progress.