A senior Iranian official told MSNOW on Monday that Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz only if the United States meets all of the conditions that Tehran contends are in the June memorandum of understanding between the two countries.
The Iranian official, who spoke one the condition of anonymity to describe closed-door discussions, said those conditions include unfreezing Iranian funds and assets and the end of fighting in Lebanon. The Iranian official said the U.S. is to blame for the closure of the strait because it has failed to fully implement the memorandum.
When the memorandum was signed in June, experts warned that some of its wording was vague and could be interpreted differently by Iranian and American officials.
Iran began threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial global oil choke point — soon after the war began at the end of February. Commercial shipping through the waterway has all but shut down. Since then, oil and gas prices have skyrocketed, at times above $100 a barrel, hiking the costs of gas and other goods. On Monday, the price of global benchmark Brent crude hit $86 a barrel. The price of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, was above $80 a barrel.
Israel began launching strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon in early March. Iran has cited ending that conflict as a condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
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David Rohde is the senior national security reporter for MS NOW and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Previously he was the senior executive editor for national security and law for NBC News.
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