Iranian Lawmaker Calls Hormuz Standoff 'Not Sustainable' as Tehran Repeats Seven Demands and a Tanker Crewman Dies

Since the U.S. and Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28, the Strait of Hormuz has been caught between an Iranian shutdown and a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. As of today, Nov. 6, Tehran is saying the arrangement cannot last, but it is not offering to move first.

Tehran: lift the blockade first

Manouchehr Mottaki, a member of Iran's parliament and foreign minister under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told Euronews that the situation is "not sustainable."

He called the U.S. blockade illegal and said it is the immediate obstacle to moving forward. He said Washington must lift it as a first step and honor the memorandum of understanding reached in June.

Mottaki also claimed the IRGC Navy has spent the past 10 days working to bring unauthorized transit through the strait to zero. By his account, three to seven ships a day are being immobilized or stranded after hitting mines or coming under drone and missile fire. That figure is his own and has not been independently confirmed.

He linked the push to the U.S. midterms, which were held Tuesday, Nov. 3. He described the result as a "defeat suffered by Trump and his party" and said the U.S. is committed to the June memorandum.

Tehran has said it lets ships from China, India, Iraq and Qatar pass freely while blocking or targeting vessels from countries it considers aligned with the U.S.

Seven conditions, no talks until they are met

Iran's security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, was in Russia on Thursday, Nov. 5, to meet Vladimir Putin. He said Iran has announced seven conditions to the Americans. "As long as they do not execute our seven conditions, we will neither open the Strait of Hormuz nor have negotiations," Rezaei said.

The conditions, as laid out in the account of the demands:

• An immediate halt to U.S. and Israeli military action in the region, including Israel's operation in Lebanon.
• Full lifting of the U.S. naval blockade.
• Lifting of all U.S. sanctions.
• Release of frozen Iranian assets abroad.
• Withdrawal of most U.S. forces from the Middle East.
• War reparations.
• Guarantees against future U.S. military action.

On Tuesday, armed forces chief of staff Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi floated a narrower version requiring five of the seven immediately. He also said the U.S. must recognize Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Supreme National Security Council deputy secretary Ali Bagheri said Friday that Iran is entitled to reject "paper commitments" and must see "practical actions" by the U.S. before opening "a new chapter." A senior Iranian official also told Reuters on Thursday that a "nuclear proposal" had gone to Washington through Qatari intermediaries.

The U.S. position runs the other way. Trump said Oct. 31 that Iran is "not very reliable," adding: "They make a deal and then they back out. I want to make a deal." Breitbart's account of the June memorandum is that Iran broke it by attacking civilian ships in Hormuz. Iran says Washington disrupted the agreement.

Ships and drones

A seafarer died after a suspected missile attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker MT Velos Sapphire on Thursday in the Persian Gulf, according to a statement from management firm Velos Tankers. The ship was empty and heading for Bahrain. The company said the man was found fatally injured after first being reported missing, and that the crew put out a fire. The ship was towed to Khalifa Bin Salman Port in Bahrain, where hull damage is still being assessed.

On Friday the IRGC claimed it destroyed a U.S. MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island with a new air defense system. It called this the 16th MQ-1 intercepted in the war and the second in two days. The claim has not been independently verified, and the U.S. has not confirmed the loss.

Washington's options

On Monday, Nov. 2, the eve of the midterms, a U.S. official told the AP on condition of anonymity that U.S. forces carried out defensive strikes on Iranian surface-to-air missile positions in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state TV reported explosions on Qeshm Island. The strikes looked limited rather than a return to full-scale war. The last known U.S. attacks before that were in early September.

Thousands of U.S. troops remain offshore to enforce the blockade, and a third aircraft carrier and thousands more troops are headed to the region.

On Oct. 31, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not decided whether to resume strikes and prefers diplomacy. Trump told reporters the same day that "1 or 2" nuclear sites remain and that the U.S. could hit them "in ten minutes."

Two regional officials and a third person familiar with the matter told the AP that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed for another wave of strikes after the U.S. elections. Vice President JD Vance said Monday that he and Trump feel "pretty good" about the prospects of a negotiated settlement.

The two sides are now stuck on sequence. Iran says the blockade must lift before talks resume. The White House has made no public commitment to do that, and Trump has not said whether he will order more strikes.