Iran recloses Strait of Hormuz after brief reopening, cites US port blockade

Tehran halted traffic through the critical oil shipping lane hours after a ceasefire prompted its reopening.

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, less than 24 hours after reopening the waterway through which 20 percent of globally traded oil transits, citing a continuing United States blockade of Iranian ports¹³.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that the US blockade represented "acts of piracy and maritime theft" and that control over the strait was "under the strict management and control of the armed forces"¹. The IRGC warned that any vessel attempting to pass through without permission "will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted"²³.

Reports indicated Iranian gunboats fired at a merchant vessel attempting to cross the strait¹. Video showed Iranian military personnel ordering an Indian ship to abort its passage⁷. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker and a senior negotiator in talks with Washington, said in a television interview that "the Strait of Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic"³. He described the US naval blockade as "a clumsy and ignorant decision"³.

The closure came hours after more than a dozen commercial ships passed through the waterway following a US-mediated 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon¹. The current two-week ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday unless extended².

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump had no justification to deprive Iran of its nuclear rights, as Washington and Tehran continued to face disagreements over nuclear issues². Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said no date had been set for a new round of face-to-face talks with the US and criticized Washington's refusal to abandon its "maximalist" demands⁶.

Ghalibaf indicated that a conclusive peace agreement remained "far" away, even as mediators continued pressing for progress after high-level discussions in Pakistan failed to produce an accord².