Spokespersons from Iran's military have restated their position that vessel movement through the Strait of Hormuz remains subject to coordination requirements, tying any relaxation of those conditions to acknowledgement of Iran's stated rights while noting that a continued US armed presence in the area contributes to regional instability.
On Thursday, a statement from Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, deputy coordinator of the Iranian Army, set out a requirement that ships intending to pass through the waterway obtain prior authorisation from Iranian authorities before doing so. Around the same time, Army Commander Major General Amir Hatami and Army Spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia each put out separate public statements, both underscoring the armed forces' preparedness and their stated intention to hold sway over conditions in the waters near the strait.
Speaking at a ceremony honouring Army nurses, Sayyari put forward the position that restrictions on maritime movement had begun leaving their mark on fuel prices worldwide, pointing to the Strait of Hormuz as a waterway he described as having been closed. He argued that an operational pipeline carrying oil would have prevented the rise in gasoline prices across the United States.
Describing the waterway's defensive arrangement, Sayyari noted that IRGC naval units held their position along the strait's western flank, while army formations covered the eastern side and pushed their reach further north into the Sea of Oman. Vessels intending to use the waterway are required to arrange clearance in advance, and those that do not may face consequences, he indicated.
Speaking at Imam Ali Officers' University in Tehran on Thursday, Army Chief Amir Hatami conveyed that the Strait of Hormuz had been shut down in the wake of the conflict's outbreak and would stay that way until Iran's demands for its rights were met. The conflict, he argued, stemmed from a miscalculation on the part of those opposing Iran — specifically, a failure to accurately gauge the country's defence capabilities.
Hatami stated that both the army and the IRGC mobilised strike operations against designated targets from the opening hours of the fighting. The opposing forces, he contended, had fallen short of what they set out to accomplish both on the battlefield and at the level of broader strategic aims.
Hatami pushed back on claims that the country's military had lost effectiveness, pointing to ongoing missile and drone activity alongside functional air-defence networks as indicators that operational capacity had held. He added that vessels found to be in breach of applicable regulations had been subject to enforcement measures, with passage through the strait now operating under notable constraints.
During the ceasefire interval, he noted, the military had worked to restore damaged infrastructure and bolster its overall state of preparedness. Forces spanning ground operations, naval assets, air-defence networks, and missile capabilities were kept at full readiness to protect the nation's borders.
Hatami went on to say that any strike targeting Iran's national infrastructure would draw a proportionally heavier counter-strike against the infrastructure and broader interests of opposing parties, Israel and those acting in concert with it among them.
Akraminia, speaking in a separate address on Friday in his capacity as Army spokesman, outlined plans under development to extend the boundary at which US naval vessels would be required to operate away from the coastline. Akraminia noted that the country's air-defence systems had grown more capable, pointing to a number of US drones brought down by Iranian defence units operating within national airspace over the preceding weeks.
According to that statement, naval vessels from the United States had been repositioned to points more than 500 kilometres away from the Persian Gulf shoreline. The spokesperson characterised the military presence of the United States in the area as a primary driver of instability, urging both neighbouring states and the broader international community to acknowledge Washington's role in those tensions.
Akraminia went on to argue that a withdrawal of American forces would allow the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, enable a collective security arrangement among the region's own countries, and produce broader benefits for the global economy. He stated that the entity in question would face removal if it did not depart on its own.
Threading the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and onward into the broader Arabian Sea, the Strait of Hormuz ranks among the waterways that global energy supply depends on most heavily. Oil and liquefied natural gas move through the waterway in quantities that matter to energy-importing nations, shipping companies, and financial markets alike, leaving any interruption to that flow with broad economic consequences.
Tehran has stated that passage through the waterway is subject to advance arrangement, with its armed forces kept in a state of readiness and any shift in the current arrangement contingent on acknowledgement of its rights and the trajectory of outside military presence across the region.