The confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz has reached a point where it can no longer be sustained, according to a senior Iranian politician who spoke to Euronews. Manouchehr Mottaki, a member of Iran's parliament and foreign minister under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the situation was deteriorating as both Tehran and Washington maintained their respective blockades in one of the world's most vital maritime chokepoints.
“This situation is not sustainable,” Mottaki said. “The immediate obstacle to moving beyond this situation is the blockade, a blockade that the Americans are carrying out illegally, in violation of international law.”
Iran has imposed its own restrictions, allowing vessels from China, India, Iraq, and Qatar to pass while targeting ships from countries it considers aligned with the United States. Mottaki said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy had been working over the past ten days to reduce unauthorised transit to zero.
“Every day, three, four, five, or even seven ships are being immobilised or stranded at sea as a result of encounters with mines or drone and missile projectiles,” he said.
Mottaki described the closure of Hormuz as the root cause of the broader regional crisis. Before the conflict, he noted, the strait was open to all maritime traffic, benefiting economies across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. He argued that restoring that freedom of navigation is essential for global trade and stability.
He called on Washington to lift its naval blockade as a first step toward resuming talks. “Following this defeat suffered by Trump and his party in the US elections, I think we need to make it very clear to them that they are committed to implementing the memorandum of understanding, and that, as a first step, they must lift this blockade,” Mottaki said. “Personally, I believe that in order to move beyond a state of neither war nor peace, we must put an end to this blockade.”
Diplomatic moves and internal divisions
The interview came as Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, travelled to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin. Reports suggest he carried a message from Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, with the main focus being how to end the war, according to media outlets close to the IRGC.
Rezaei had previously told US Vice President JD Vance, in response to a letter, that Washington's proposals were not convincing and that Tehran's conditions for reopening the strait must be met in full.
The midterm election results have exposed divisions within the Trump administration over the conflict. Vance issued a lengthy statement on Wednesday directly attributing the Republicans' heavy defeat to the Iran war, saying voters who backed Trump in 2024 turned against the party because of the decision to launch strikes on Iran.
Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that the war had contributed to the defeat but insisted he would make the same decision again. He added that he had no immediate plans to attack Iran but had not ruled out further use of force. US media reported that a large joint military operation with Israel remained under consideration.
Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Ghalibaf, addressed a social media post directly to Vance. “Your boss is preparing the next stage of the war, while America is on the verge of falling into Israel's fire pit,” Ghalibaf said. “Put the speech aside. Why don't you say these things to your boss?”
Tehran has said the Strait of Hormuz will reopen only once Washington accepts seven conditions, including ending the US naval blockade, lifting oil sanctions, unfreezing Iranian assets abroad, and halting the broader Middle East war. The standoff continues to have significant implications for global energy markets and European economies that rely on Gulf oil shipments. As tensions persist, European diplomats are watching closely, with some urging restraint. The recent US strikes on an Iranian island have only heightened concerns. Meanwhile, oil prices have dipped on talks, but the threat of further escalation remains.
