US Demands Iran Statement That Hormuz Is Open, Tehran Vows 'Revenge' For Khamenei Death
by Alex Raufoglu · Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty · JoinWASHINGTON -- Senior US officials have said that Iran has privately acknowledged it made a mistake by attacking commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and wants to resume negotiations with the Trump administration, while Washington is demanding Tehran publicly commit to keeping one of the world's busiest shipping lanes open.
But the prospects of that appeared in doubt on July 11, with Tehran issuing a statement attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowing "revenge" for the death of his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war with the United States and Israel.
Meanwhile, Iranian representatives arrived in Oman for talks expected to focus both on bilateral arrangements for managing the Strait of Hormuz and on reviving US-Iranian negotiations.
The US officials described the Oman meeting as a critical test of whether diplomacy can survive after this week's confrontation in the Gulf.
According to the officials, Iranian representatives told US interlocutors the attacks on commercial shipping were a mistake and said they wanted negotiations to continue.
"They came back to the table and said, 'We screwed up. We made a mistake. Let's keep talking,'" one senior US official said.
Hard-Liners
The officials said Tehran privately attributed the attacks to an "errant" faction of hard-liners that it claimed was trying to derail negotiations with Washington.
The White House, they said, wants Iran to make that acknowledgment publicly, arguing that private assurances are insufficient after what Washington views as a violation of the cease-fire framework reached in June.
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Senior officials said the Trump administration's immediate priority is securing a public statement from Iran declaring that all shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz are open and that commercial vessels will no longer be targeted.
“What we're demanding is that the Iranians issue a public statement that acknowledges all channels of the Strait of Hormuz are open and they're not shooting at ships anymore," one official said. "They're either going to give us that statement, or we're not going to have a good outcome.”
Washington expects Tehran to state after the Oman talks that maritime traffic through the strategic waterway will return to pre-conflict conditions. "If it's not their position," another official said, "it's not going to be a great day for them."
The officials declined to specify what measures Washington would take but said President Donald Trump has authorized military and economic pressure if Iran continues hostile actions.
Tehran's Response
The public messaging from Tehran on July 11 has been, however, combative.
An official statement, attributed to Khamenei, said that revenge for the February 28 that killed his father on the first night of US and Israeli attacks that launched the war was "inevitable."
"This vengeance is the will of our nation and must inevitably be carried out," the statement said. "This matter depends neither on my personal existence nor on that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass."
Mojtaba Khamenei was reportedly wounded in the same Israeli air strike that killed his father and has not been seen in public since his succession in March.
The July 11 statement was the first comment issued in his name since the extravagant, weeklong funeral procession this week at which he was conspicuously absent.
"We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers," the message said.
Officials Say Trump Giving Diplomacy Limited Time
US officials have repeatedly said the window for negotiations is narrowing.
“President Trump is giving us the space to see if we can conclude that," one official said. "But not a lot of space and not a lot of time.”
Another official described the current situation as "definitely a wait-and-see moment."
Washington believes it is negotiating with Iranian counterparts who have the authority to reach an agreement, but officials added that the Strait of Hormuz crisis has raised doubts about Tehran's ability to implement any commitments.
Senior officials also suggested a power struggle may be unfolding within Iran over implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed in June.
According to them, Iranian representatives said the attacks on commercial shipping were carried out by an internal faction opposed to negotiations with Washington.
One official said Washington believes Iran was caught off guard by the volume of commercial traffic using the southern shipping lane along Oman's coast, which US officials believed would remain open under the memorandum of understanding.
On this telling, Tehran reversed course after realizing how much oil and gas traffic continued moving through that corridor.
Officials said the administration views Iran's willingness to guarantee freedom of navigation as the first major test of whether broader negotiations -- including over Iran's nuclear program -- can succeed.
"If Iran is not capable of honoring what we believe was the easiest part of the deal -- opening up the strait to trade -- we'll never get to the thornier issue of Iran's nuclear program," one official said.
Even as negotiations resume, officials said military options remain available.
There have been several days of heightened tensions after Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz prompted US military strikes and renewed sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, meanwhile, accused Washington on July 10 of violating the June memorandum of understanding through new US sanctions.
Writing on X, he said "there can only be mutual compliance" and argued that Tehran had honored its commitments while the United States had not.
US Demands Iran Statement That Hormuz Is Open, Tehran Vows 'Revenge' For Khamenei Death
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