Washington asks Tehran to issue a public pledge today to stop its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz

The administration of US President Donald Trump called on Tehran to issue a public statement acknowledging that the Strait of Hormuz is open to navigation, and pledged to cease fire on commercial ships, setting Saturday as a deadline to commit to this.

Three American officials revealed, in statements to Axios on Friday, that this firm message was conveyed to the Iranian side directly and through regional mediators.

Collapse of the truce

These demands come at a time when the US administration confirms that Iran violated the “memorandum of understanding” that it signed with Washington three weeks ago, by repeatedly firing at commercial ships inside and around the strait.

These attacks led to an exchange of fire, pushing the fragile agreement to the brink of collapse, which was translated into President Trump’s declaration this week that the ceasefire was “over.” In this context, American officials believe that Iran’s failure to fulfill a direct and simple commitment raises serious doubts about the extent of its desire and ability to implement a more complex nuclear agreement.

Internal conflict in Tehran

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is scheduled to hold a meeting with his Omani counterpart, Badr al-Busaidi, on Saturday in the Omani capital, Muscat, to discuss the Hormuz crisis.

According to American officials, Iranian negotiators justified the attacks by saying that “extremist elements” within the regime were the ones who initiated the firing on the ships in an attempt to regain pressure cards. On the public level, the statements of Iranian negotiators, Revolutionary Guard commanders, and other senior officials were united around the demand that Tehran retain control over shipping traffic in the Strait.

But behind the scenes, an American official revealed that the Iranians contacted the US administration after two days of skirmishes earlier this week, and requested further talks to resolve the dispute, claiming that they said: “We messed up the matter… We made a mistake. Let us continue the talks.”

The official pointed out that there is an internal power struggle within the Iranian regime over the mechanism for implementing the memorandum of understanding and the next steps in negotiations with the Trump administration, adding: “There are elements within their regime that want to reach an agreement, but we cannot make decisions on their behalf. They must control matters.”

Critical deadline

Washington expects Iran to issue a clarifying statement following Saturday’s meeting in Oman. One American official said: “We want them to explicitly announce that they will stop firing at ships, and to admit explicitly, or at least implicitly, that they made a mistake. We are working on that now… We expect the Iranians to announce that every corridor in the strait will be open and exempt from duties.”

In a strongly worded warning, a second American official threatened dire consequences in the event of refusal, saying: “If this is not their position… [غداً]”It’s not going to be a great day for them.”

It is noteworthy that the United States has already carried out two rounds of retaliatory strikes against Iran in response to the Hormuz attacks, while Thursday witnessed relative calm with Trump expressing his openness to returning to the diplomatic track.

The path of the nuclear agreement

In a related context, an American official confirmed that progress had been made towards reaching a nuclear agreement during three weeks of direct and indirect negotiations, saying: “We are talking with people who have power there, and they say they want an agreement.”

However, the Hormuz crisis has cast doubt on whether Iran will ever agree to a nuclear agreement, or whether it will actually abide by it.

One of the officials stressed that Trump gave the American negotiators time and space to pursue the nuclear file, “but not a lot of space and time.” The same official revealed that the US administration is currently formulating other plans and alternatives in the event that a nuclear agreement is not reached.