Iran has set out a series of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including the lifting of US sanctions and the release of frozen Iranian funds, a day after a deadline for Tehran and Washington to reach a final agreement expired without a deal.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that Tehran would not reopen the strategic waterway until Washington fulfilled commitments Iran says were included in a memorandum of understanding reached in June.
"The strait will not be opened unless America fulfils its commitments contained in the memorandums of understanding, including lifting the blockade, releasing frozen funds, lifting oil sanctions, ending threats and military operations on all fronts, and the other conditions America committed to," Ghalibaf said.
His remarks came a day after a 60-day deadline for Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement expired, leaving the two sides locked in a dispute over the waterway at the centre of the nearly six-month war.
Speaking during a virtual public session of parliament, Ghalibaf warned that Iran was "ready to inflict a greater defeat than the previous one on the enemy if it seeks to attack us".
He said Iran was acting under instructions from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, using both the "power of logic" and the "logic of power" to force what he called a "delusional America" to deliver what Tehran considers the rights of the Iranian people.
Ghalibaf also accused Iran's adversaries of shifting their focus towards economic pressure and attempts to exploit divisions inside the country after, he claimed, failing to defeat Tehran militarily or diplomatically.
"The enemy, in its new plan, seeks economic pressure and the destruction of the country's cohesion," he said.
He warned that any individual or institution that weakened national unity through its statements, conduct or decisions would be serving the enemy's objectives, whether intentionally or otherwise.
Ghalibaf said Iran had used the period created by the memorandum of understanding, including the easing of the blockade and the ceasefire, to strengthen its economic resilience and rebuild its defence capabilities.
He claimed Iranian authorities had information suggesting that their adversaries were looking for opportunities to foment unrest and combine it with military operations, including assassinations and separatist activity, alongside what he described as "cognitive warfare".
The parliament speaker also suggested Iran's adversaries could seek to exploit government measures intended to reduce petrol consumption.
While acknowledging that Iranians' economic grievances were legitimate and saying he respected political and social criticism, Ghalibaf argued that the country was at a moment that required unity.
Iran says Hormuz remains under its control
The deputy commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Mostafa Izadi, separately underlined Tehran's position on the Strait of Hormuz, saying control of the waterway remained "entirely at the discretion of Iran's sons".
"The enemy does not know what to do," Izadi was quoted as saying by Iran's Fars news agency.
He described the strait as equivalent in strategic value to "nuclear power", pointing to its impact on global energy, agriculture and industry.
The comments reinforce Iran's insistence on retaining leverage over the waterway, which has emerged as the central obstacle to efforts to turn the ceasefire into a lasting settlement.
Araghchi says US failed to force Iranian surrender
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that US efforts to force Iran into "unconditional surrender" during the war had failed.
Araghchi said the US administration had entered the war seeking Iran's complete surrender, before subsequently pursuing regime change, the partition of the country and efforts to arm groups inside Iranian cities and western regions.
He said those efforts had also failed.
The United States, Araghchi claimed, "rushed" to seek negotiations shortly after the war began, despite initially demanding Tehran's unconditional surrender.
Iran initially rejected a ceasefire and continued fighting until the other side became convinced of the need to accept a truce and negotiate on Tehran's terms, he said.
Araghchi said the events would eventually be recorded "in detail in history", describing an exchange of multi-point proposals that culminated in an agreement based on an Iranian proposal for a ceasefire in April.
Months of negotiations followed, lasting longer than the war itself, before the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on 18 June, he said.
Araghchi said foreign diplomats had told him that most of the memorandum's provisions favoured Iran, while only a small portion benefited the other side.
He claimed this was why the agreement began to be violated less than two weeks after it was signed, accusing Israel of being its most determined opponent and of seeking to prevent both its conclusion and implementation.
Monday marked the deadline for Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement under the Qatar- and Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding intended to bring the war to an end.
The agreement gave the two sides 60 days to negotiate a broader settlement covering issues including the future of Iran's nuclear programme and US sanctions on Tehran.
But the memorandum, which called for an immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts, quickly ran into difficulties as the two sides clashed over control of the Strait of Hormuz.