Iran has said it is “impossible” to reopen the vital waterway as the United States and Iran tighten their blockades of the Strait of Hormuz.
About 20 percent of the world’s total oil and liquefied gas transport passes through this waterway.
As a result, the ongoing stalemate has created great uncertainty about the future of the peace talks.
Iranian Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said on Wednesday night that it was not possible to open the Strait of Hormuz amid “blatant” ceasefire violations by the United States and Israel.
These include the US naval blockade, ‘holding the world economy hostage’ and ‘Zionist aggression’.
In the post on X, he also said, “The United States and Israel have not been able to achieve their goals through military aggression, and they will not be able to through repression.”
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Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its navy had stopped two ships attempting to pass through the strait and brought them to shore.
The Panamanian-flagged MSC Francesca and the Liberian-flagged Epaminondas were detained on charges of attempting to secretly leave the strait, the country’s Tasnim news agency reported.
The Greek Foreign Minister has confirmed that the Epaminondas ship is Greek-owned.
On the same day, a UK-based maritime security agency reported multiple attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, including one in which an Iranian gunboat approached a ship and opened fire, causing serious damage to the ship’s bridge.