Iran warns Strait of Hormuz may not stay open as tensions escalate

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said early Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open if the United States continues its naval blockade on Iran, signaling renewed tensions over one of the world's most critical shipping routes.

In a post on social media platform X, Qalibaf rejected US President Donald Trump's claims that Tehran had agreed to all terms of a potential peace deal, calling them "entirely false." He stressed that passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be conducted based on "designated routes" and subject to "Iranian authorization."

"They did not win the war with these lies, and they will certainly not get anywhere in negotiations either," Qalibaf said, adding that Iran would not be swayed by media warfare and public opinion manipulation.

The remarks came after Trump said in an interview with CBS News on Friday that Iran had "agreed to everything" in a possible deal, including cooperation on removing enriched uranium without US ground troop involvement. He also said Washington would maintain its blockade on Iranian ports "until we get it done."

Iranian officials swiftly rejected the claims. The country's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would not transfer its enriched uranium abroad and that sending it to the United States had never been under consideration.

Meanwhile, Iran's military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued strong warnings over the situation in the strategic waterway. The IRGC said the Strait of Hormuz would remain under strict Iranian control if the United States fails to ensure full freedom of navigation for vessels traveling to and from Iran, adding that any breach of commitments by Washington would be met with a "befitting response."

"As long as the movement of vessels from and to Iran is threatened, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain as it was," the IRGC said.

A spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Saturday that control of the strait has "returned to its previous state," with the waterway now under firm management of Iran's armed forces. The spokesperson accused the United States of repeatedly violating commitments and continuing what Iran described as maritime "plunder" under the pretext of a blockade.

Adding to tensions, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received a report on Saturday that a tanker was fired upon by two gunboats linked to Iran's IRGC about 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman. The tanker and its crew were reported safe.

Shipping data also showed disruptions in maritime traffic, with around 10 vessels attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday but later turning back. 

Iran's Supreme National Security Council said on Saturday that the country will maintain strict control over traffic through the Strait of Hormuz until the war is definitively ended and lasting peace is achieved in the region.

It added that as long as the United States seeks to disrupt vessel passage through measures such as a naval blockade, Iran will regard it as a violation of the ceasefire and will suspend the conditional and limited opening of the strategic waterway.