No reopening of Strait of Hormuz until Iran’s conditions are met, says Ghalibaf

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, said on Sunday (September 20, 2026) that the Strait of Hormuz would not be reopened until Iran’s seven conditions were met, adding that Tehran must pursue both military action and negotiations .

Addressing the Iranian Parliament, Mr. Ghalibaf said “the duality of war or negotiation is not real” and that Iran must “both fight and negotiate”. “We must fight sensibly and decisively and negotiate with authority and rationality at the right time,” he said.

Iran must use its military power to push back its adversary and consolidate battlefield gains through diplomacy, he said. “At the right moment, with all the military power we have, we must push back the enemy and deal him fatal blows,” he said. But once Iran had achieved “a significant field victory” and the enemy was weak, it must consolidate these advantages “with the tools of diplomacy”, he added.

He said Iran’s positions in the diplomatic arena were “completely clear, rational, and non-negotiable”, and that its conditions had been conveyed explicitly to the other side through mediators. The enemy “knows very well that the path of deception and unilateral imposition is closed”, Mr. Ghalibaf said.

The Strait of Hormuz would not be reopened until the conditions were fulfilled, including recognition of what he called the legitimate rights of the Iranian people and implementation of U.S. commitments, he said. He added that “there will be no opening for returning to the previous conditions of negotiation and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz”.

Mr. Ghalibaf’s remarks come as Iran has conveyed seven conditions to the U.S. through Qatari mediators for starting negotiations to end the continuing war, while warning that Tehran is prepared for a “decisive war” if Washington rejects its demands.

According to Al Jazeera, Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, said that Qatar had conveyed Iran’s conditions to Washington and Tehran was awaiting U.S. President Donald Trump’s response. Mr. Rezaei said the conditions included an end to the war on all fronts, the release of frozen Iranian funds, and an end to the naval blockade.

In a separate post on X, Mr. Rezaei said Iran had announced seven conditions for beginning negotiations with Washington. He wrote that “Tehran’s message is clear and unambiguous” and that Washington had “no choice but to accept Iran’s rights and conditions” if it wanted to escape the “quagmire it has created for itself”.

“Trump’s threats will not achieve any results. We are prepared for a decisive war,” Mr. Rezaei told Al Jazeera.

Qatar and Pakistan have been working to re-establish negotiations between Tehran and Washington since the expiry of a memorandum of understanding in August. Regional countries have also been seeking an end to the conflict that began after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran in late February.

Mr. Rezaei did not rule out another U.S. strike, saying it was “very much on the cards” according to Iranian military assessments. He said Tehran was prepared for such a scenario and that its military planning had changed after two earlier rounds of fighting.

The Security Chief said Tehran’s current planning was focused on U.S. naval assets stretching from the Gulf through the Gulf of Oman and into the Arabian Sea. He said Iran had also recently test-fired a multi-warhead anti-ship missile near a U.S. vessel or aircraft carrier.

Mr. Rezaei warned that any future Iranian response could be extensive, targeting U.S. bases in the region as well as U.S. commercial interests and companies operating locally.

Asked whether the war could end soon, he said: “In practical terms, the war is still going on.” He added that Tehran was pursuing a strategy aimed at bringing the conflict to an end “as soon as possible”.