Iran has denied US claims that it agreed to transfer its enriched uranium abroad and threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz again if Washington’s naval blockade is not lifted, as a handful of vessels began transiting the strategic waterway on Saturday.
On Friday, President Donald Trump said the US would maintain a naval blockade on Iranian ports, imposed earlier this week, until a final agreement between the two countries is reached.
The blockade was imposed in response to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran ended on Thursday following a US-brokered 10-day ceasefire to halt Israel’s war in Lebanon.
However, Iran on Saturday appeared to reverse course after Trump’s comments, saying passage through the waterway would remain restricted as long as the US continued its naval blockade.
“With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X. “What they call a naval blockade will definitely be met with an appropriate response from Iran.”
The US Central Command said overnight it had directed at least 21 ships to turn around since the blockade began this week.
Before Iran signalled it would reassert control of the Strait of Hormuz, a convoy of eight tankers was seen transiting the strait on Saturday morning, with other vessels in the Gulf preparing to follow.
Read more: Iran signals re-closure of Hormuz as it rejects uranium transfer abroad
