Iran's top negotiator warns Tehran 'not even started' in Hormuz standoff

TEHRAN: Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States warned on Tuesday that his country has “not even started” in its standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.

“We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; whilst we have not even started yet,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

Ghalibaf, who is the speaker in Iran’s parliament, said the actions of the US and its allies had put shipping security at risk, but said their “malign presence will diminish”.

Stocks sank Tuesday with a fresh spike in Middle East tensions fanning fears over the fragile US-Iran ceasefire, as the two sides appeared not closer to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

And while oil prices fell, they held most of the huge gains seen Monday after the two countries traded fire over the key waterway and the United Arab Emirates reported a strike on an installation.

The exchanges came after Donald Trump announced a mission called “Project Freedom” to guide ships from neutral countries out of the Gulf, saying it was a humanitarian effort to help stranded crews.

The US president was later quoted by Fox News as warning that Iran would be “blown off the face of the Earth” if it attacked US ships.

Crude prices surged Monday — with Brent up almost six percent — after a US admiral said US forces sank six small Iranian boats. Iran denied any had been sunk and earlier fired warning shots at US warships.

That came after the UAE said an energy installation in the emirate of Fujairah had been hit, while the UAE defence ministry announced four cruise missiles were launched from Iran, with three successfully shot down and another falling into the sea.

A senior Iranian military official did not deny the strikes but said: “What happened was the product of the US military’s adventurism to create a passage for ships to illegally pass through” the Strait of Hormuz, according to state television.

Still, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the clashes showed there was “no military solution to a political crisis” and pointed to Pakistan’s efforts to keep mediating.