Iran has issued fresh threats of attacks against infrastructure across the Middle East as it waits for a formal response from the United States to its proposal for reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The latest warning came from Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who said Tehran would respond if its security and ability to export oil remained under threat.
“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 said in remarks broadcast by Iranian state television.
His comments came as diplomatic efforts continued over Tehran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a major global energy route that has remained at the centre of the conflict.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was expecting Washington’s formal response after discussions with Qatari mediators.
He said the intermediaries had discussed ways of meeting Iran’s conditions and were expected to take the proposals back to the US before delivering Washington’s response to Tehran.
Iran has made the reopening of the waterway conditional on several demands, including a seven-day ceasefire across the Middle East, the lifting of sanctions affecting its oil sector, the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The proposal followed discussions between Araghchi and US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in New York.
However, US President Donald Trump has already rejected Iran’s latest proposal, while diplomatic contacts through intermediaries have continued.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy corridors, with a significant share of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passing through the waterway under normal circumstances.
Iran and the United States have also offered conflicting accounts of the current status of shipping through the strait.
While Washington says oil shipments are still moving through the waterway, Tehran maintains that the strait remains effectively closed.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards repeated that position on Tuesday, rejecting claims that the waterway was operating normally.
Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebi said the movement of a small number of vessels under difficult conditions should not be regarded as a full reopening of the strait.
“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,” Mohebi said.
He argued that normal operations would involve large numbers of vessels passing through the waterway each day.
“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,” he said.
Mohebi also warned vessels attempting to use the route, saying they could face attacks or mines.
The renewed threats come amid continuing diplomatic efforts to find a way out of the conflict, with mediators attempting to bridge differences between Tehran and Washington.
For now, Iran is awaiting the formal US response to its conditions, while both sides continue to maintain sharply different positions over the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
