Iran announces new body to manage Strait of Hormuz as peace talks stall

Iran's top security body announced on Monday the formation of a new body to manage the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed and wants to charge ships to traverse.

On its official X account, the Supreme National Security Council shared a post for the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) saying it would provide "real-time updates on the #Hormuz_Strait operations and latest developments."

The account of the Revolutionary Guards navy shared the same post.

It was not immediately clear what the new body would do but earlier this month Iranian English-speaking broadcaster Press TV said it constituted a "system to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz" and that ships passing through the strait were sent "regulations" from the email info@pgsa.ir.

Iran has largely blocked shipping through the vital strait since the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel on February 28. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8.

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Iran's grip over the waterway has rattled global markets and given Tehran significant leverage, while the United States has imposed its own naval blockade on Iranian ports.

In peacetime, the route accounts for roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, along with other key commodities including fertiliser.

Since the war began, Iran has repeatedly said that maritime traffic through the strait would "not return to its pre-war status" and last month it said it had received the first revenue from tolls on the waterway.

On Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security commission, said Iran "has prepared a professional mechanism to manage traffic" through the strait, adding that it will be "unveiled soon".

Iran responds to US proposal

Iran also said Monday it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that diplomatic exchanges continue despite Iranian media reports describing Washington's demands as excessive.

Washington and Tehran have been swapping proposals in an effort to end the conflict, but they have held only a single round of talks despite a fragile ceasefire.

"As we announced yesterday, our concerns were conveyed to the American side," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news briefing, adding that exchanges were "continuing through the Pakistani mediator".

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Baqaei defended Iran's demands, including the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad and the lifting of long-standing sanctions.

"The points raised are Iranian demands that have been firmly defended by the Iranian negotiating team in every round of negotiations," he said.

He also defended an Iranian stipulation that the US pay war reparations, describing the conflict as "illegal and baseless".

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that speaking with the United States in search of a deal was not to be viewed negatively.

"Dialogue does not mean surrender. The Islamic Republic of Iran enters into dialogue with dignity, authority, and the preservation of the nation's rights, and will under no circumstances retreat from the legal rights of the people and the country," he wrote on X.

"With logic and with all our strength, to the point of sacrificing our lives, we will remain in service of the people and safeguard the interests and dignity of Iran."

On the possibility of another military confrontation, Baqaei said Iran was "fully prepared for any eventuality".

On Sunday, Iran's Fars news agency said Washington had presented a five-point list, which included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States.

The US had refused to release "even 25 per cent" of Iran's frozen assets or pay any reparations for war damage, Fars said.

The report said the US had also made clear it would only cease hostilities when Tehran engages in formal peace negotiations.

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Cable threat

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also said on Monday that internet fibre-optic cables passing through the Strait could be brought under a system of permits.

"Following the imposition of control over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran, citing its absolute sovereignty over the bed and subsoil of its territorial sea... could declare that all fibre-optic cables passing through the waterway are subject to permits," the ideological arm of Iran's military said in a social media post.

Separately on Monday, the IRGC said its forces had struck groups linked to the United States and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq.

In a statement carried by the ISNA news agency, the Guards said groups from "northern Iraq and acting on behalf of the US and the Zionist regime were attempting to smuggle a large shipment of American weapons and ammunition" into Iran.

They said the groups were hit in the Iranian city of Baneh in the Kurdistan region.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)