Iran sets conditions for Hormuz opening, Houthis hit refinery
Iran demands the lifting of a parallel US naval blockade of Iran, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation.
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Iran demands the lifting of a parallel US naval blockade of Iran, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation.
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday said they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts all of Tehran's demands.
"Our current strategy is to maintain this strait until the enemy accepts all our conditions," said Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebi, as quoted by state TV, adding that "the strait is now actually a theater of war for us and not just a waterway."
Security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr on Saturday laid out a list of demands for reopening the strait, including an end to the "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq."
He also demanded the lifting of a parallel US naval blockade of Iran, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage, according to remarks reported by Tasnim news agency.
Tehran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait since the US and Israel struck Iran in late February, and wants to charge tolls for passage, attacking ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.
Continued attacks in the strait, which was free to transit before the war, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire. Mediators have since urged both sides to return to the terms of a June memorandum.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman over transit and management of the strait were "approaching the final stages," but added the reopening of Hormuz "is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation" of the June agreement.
The comments came as transit through Hormuz has dropped significantly, with Iran targeting ships it accuses of skirting its preferred route through Iranian waters.
The United Arab Emirates' foreign ministry on Saturday condemned what it called a "hostile Iranian attack that targeted a tanker belonging to ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) with a missile while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, without causing casualties".
Later on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a ship was hit by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that was extinguished but no casualties. It was unclear whether they were referring to the same ship.
Houthis strike refinery
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had struck an oil facility on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast after the Gulf kingdom said it had extinguished a fire at the site.
The group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Houthis had "succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jizan with a drone, and the strike was precise," adding the attack had been launched in response to Saudi drone incursions into northwest Yemen.
Aramco is Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company.
A 2022 truce in Yemen's civil war, which Saudi Arabia entered more than a decade ago on the side of the internationally recognized government, appeared to have collapsed last month, with the Houthis announcing a maritime blockade of its northern neighbor and hitting Saudi tankers in the Red Sea.
The Houthis control vast swathes of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and areas on the border with Saudi Arabia's Red Sea provinces.
The Yemeni threat to shipping and Saudi oil facilities comes in parallel with Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has become the central flashpoint between Tehran and Washington amid efforts to end the Middle East war.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said civil response teams had brought under control a fire at Jizan refinery without giving the cause of the blaze.
The facility was also targeted by Yemen's Houthi rebels in July.
"Saudi Aramco's industrial security firefighting teams extinguished a fire that broke out at dawn today, Sunday, at one of the facilities belonging to the Saudi Aramco refinery in Jizan, without any injuries," the ministry said.
