Iran threatens new strikes as it awaits US response to Hormuz plan

Iran on Tuesday threatened to attack infrastructure around the Middle East, intensifying its rhetoric as it awaits a formal response from Washington on a new plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President Donald Trump has already dismissed the proposal from Tehran, but Iran's foreign minister said Monday that he was expecting a formal response from American officials in the coming day.

Fighting has subsided in recent weeks, though Tehran has continued to target ships in the strait, with Washington falling back on an economic pressure campaign instead of further military action.

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Tuesday threatened new attacks, saying no infrastructure in the region would be safe if his country's security was not guaranteed.

"In a region where we cannot sell oil, no one else will sell oil either; or if our security is not guaranteed, no infrastructure will remain safe," Ghalibaf, who is also Iran's parliament speaker, said according to video released by state TV.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expected a formal answer from the U.S. on Tuesday to Tehran's proposal, state media reported.

Iran has maintained a blockade on commercial shipping through Hormuz since the war began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.

The shipping route carried a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas before the conflict began.

The U.S. military has been maintaining a counter blockade of Iran's ports in an effort to prevent Tehran from exporting oil.

Conditions

Araghchi said late Monday that Qatari intermediaries "presented ideas, and we discussed them; they are set to raise the matter with the American side once more, after which the final U.S. response will be conveyed to us."

The top diplomat, who was in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said "the Qataris hope this will be done by tomorrow."

"The current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz, and the reopening of the strait is contingent upon the fullfilment of certain conditions that we have communicated to the other side," he added.

Last week, discussions were held in New York between Araghchi and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

As a precondition for ending its blockade, Iran is demanding a seven-day cease-fire across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah is regularly bombarded by Israel.

It is also demanding the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad, the lifting of sanctions on its oil sector and an end to the U.S. naval blockade on its ports.

Both sides claim to have control of Hormuz, with the U.S. saying oil is moving through and Tehran insisting the waterway is closed.

On Tuesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the country's military, said "the U.S. claim that it remains open is false."

"Sneaking a few hundred barrels of oil through under the cover of darkness — with transponders turned off and at great cost — does not constitute the strait being open," said spokesperson Hossein Mohebi.

"A truly open strait is one where, as in the past, at least 125 vessels would pass through daily, transporting a minimum of 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum products.

"Any vessel attempting to pass through sustains damage — either we strike it, or it hits a mine," he added.