Head of Iran's Expediency Council: Iran Will Not Retreat From the Strait of Hormuz

Sadeq Amoli Larijani, head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, said on Sunday, 18 Mordad 1405 (August 9, 2026), at a council session, that Iran would not retreat from the Strait of Hormuz at any price and that conditions in the waterway would not return to their pre-war state. According to Ecoiran, citing the Mehr news agency, he added that Iran's armed forces and people "stand at the Strait of Hormuz" and that sovereignty over the waterway belongs to the Islamic Republic; he said free passage for ships is conditional on the other side accepting the terms of the memorandum of understanding.

The remarks came the same day Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman over designating a new transit route through the Strait of Hormuz are in their final stage, though he said a full reopening remains conditional on the United States making up for what Tehran calls violations of an earlier memorandum. The strait carries a large share of Persian Gulf oil exports, and any signal about its future affects global oil prices and Iran's currency market.