Washington Redirects 109 Ships to Sustain Hormuz Blockade; Iran Refuses to Reopen Strait Until US Meets Demands

Tehran: Iran has ruled out reopening the Strait of Hormuz or returning to its previous negotiating framework with the United States until Washington meets Tehran's demands, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Sunday, as tensions between the two countries continued to escalate. Ghalibaf said Iran's conditions had been conveyed to the American side through intermediaries and would not be reconsidered until Tehran's rights were recognised and US commitments fulfilled.

His remarks followed a warning from Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the country's central military command, which said any renewed US military action against Iran would be met with sustained and severe retaliatory strikes on American bases and interests throughout the region. The command also cautioned regional states against assisting any future US operation, warning that such countries would be treated as participants in the attack.

Separately, US Central Command said it had redirected 109 commercial vessels as part of enforcing Washington's naval blockade on Iran, which resumed on July 14 and restricts maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports. President Donald Trump warned Tehran of serious consequences should it fail to change its conduct, while also signalling openness to talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei had earlier said Tehran's conditions for ending the confrontation, relayed through Qatari mediation, include a halt to hostilities on all fronts, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and an end to the naval blockade. The standoff comes as world leaders gather in New York, with the US-Iran confrontation expected to feature prominently in discussions on regional security.