Iran Says Strait of Hormuz Will Not Return to Normal

(MENAFN) A senior Iranian lawmaker issued a defiant warning Sunday, declaring that the Strait of Hormuz will remain under altered conditions as tensions between Tehran and Washington continue to strangle global energy flows and stall diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Ali Nikzad, second deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, delivered the stark message to the semi-official Mehr News Agency: "We will by no means return the Strait of Hormuz to its previous state, because this is an order from the Leader of the Islamic Revolution."

The legislator also launched a sharp rebuke at U.S. President Donald Trump over his nuclear demands, questioning the American leader's authority on the matter. "Didn't (US President Donald) Trump, after bombing Fordo and Natanz, say that everything had been destroyed and Iran no longer had a nuclear program? Yet now he says he will not accept Iran having nuclear capability," Nikzad said, adding pointedly: "Who is Trump in the world to decide this?"

The standoff stems from a war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran on Feb. 28, after which Tehran moved to assert control over the critical waterway. Washington responded with a naval blockade on Iranian ports beginning April 13 — a move that has since disrupted energy supplies, particularly across Asia.

Diplomatic attempts to resolve the crisis have so far yielded little progress. Talks held in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, two weeks ago collapsed without agreement. Those negotiations followed a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire reached on April 8, which President Trump subsequently extended.

While a new round of negotiations is reportedly being arranged, officials say key obstacles remain firmly in place — chief among them the status of the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. port blockade, and Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium.

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