“If our security is not guaranteed, no infrastructure will remain safe.” Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, made the threat on Tuesday, September 29, in a video released by state TV. Tehran was waiting for a formal American answer to its plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
His warning extends to infrastructure across the Middle East. “In a region where we cannot sell oil, no one else will sell oil either,” Ghalibaf said. The threat comes as Gulf states have already taken hits, according to Arab News. Tehran’s control of the strait has dealt them a severe blow, and Iranian fire has also struck them.
Threats Aimed at the Region
Fighting has eased in recent weeks. The pause remains uneasy. Iran continues to target ships in the strait, while Washington has chosen economic pressure over further military action.
The war began in late February with U.S.-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic. Since then, Iran has blockaded commercial shipping through Hormuz. Before the conflict, a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved along the route. The U.S. military has countered by blockading Iranian ports to stop Tehran from exporting oil.
President Donald Trump dismissed Tehran’s proposal. Still, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday he expected a formal U.S. response within a day.
Competing Claims Over the Strait
The two sides can’t agree on whether the waterway is open. The U.S. says oil is moving through it. Tehran says it’s closed.
Hossein Mohebbi, spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, rejected the American claim. “Sneaking a few hundred barrels of oil through under the cover of darkness — with transponders turned off and at great cost — does not constitute the strait being open,” he said. A truly open strait, he added, is one where “at least 125 vessels would pass through daily, transporting a minimum of 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum products.”
His warning to shippers was blunt. “Any vessel attempting to pass through sustains damage — either we strike it, or it hits a mine.”
Diplomacy Through Qatar
Araghchi was in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. Late Monday, he said Qatari intermediaries “presented ideas, and we discussed them; they are set to raise the matter with the American side once more, after which the final US response will be conveyed to us.” He added: “the Qataris hope this will be done by tomorrow.”
He said the current focus is solely on Hormuz. Reopening the strait, he said, depends on conditions Iran has communicated to the other side.
Aaraghchi met last week in New York with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. On Tuesday, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said “several meetings and messages have been exchanged, including some in New York and earlier.” The efforts, he said, are “focused on building common ground between the parties.”
Iran’s demands are extensive. Tehran wants a seven-day ceasefire across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, as a precondition for ending its blockade. Lebanon is where Israel regularly bombs Iran’s ally Hezbollah, Arab News reported. Tehran also wants its assets abroad unfrozen, sanctions on its oil sector lifted, and the U.S. naval blockade of its ports ended.
Al Ansari directed a message at Tehran. Iranian authorities, he said, “need to take a decision to distance our countries from this war and to take a very clear position of non-aggression toward their neighbors.”
Why This Matters: Before the war, the strait carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. A prolonged blockade and counter-blockade therefore reach far beyond the two governments negotiating. Gulf states that didn’t start the war are taking Iranian fire and economic damage. Iran’s demand for a ceasefire that includes Lebanon ties the shipping dispute to wider regional fighting, with civilians in places like Lebanon living under regular bombing. Diplomacy through Qatar is moving, but the two sides still disagree on basic facts about the strait. Whether any deal can hold is uncertain. Threats against regional infrastructure and the lack of a clear halt to strikes leave civilians across the region exposed.