US Expects Iran to Publicly Renounce Attacks on Ships in Hormuz by Saturday, says Report

The Trump administration is demanding that Iran publicly acknowledge the Strait of Hormuz is open and commit to ending attacks on commercial ships, with officials warning of serious consequences if Iran doesn’t comply following Saturday’s meeting in Oman.

The Trump administration is pressing Iran to make a public commitment that the Strait of Hormuz is open and that it will stop targeting commercial ships. Three US officials, according to Axios, told reporters in a Friday briefing that this demand has gone out through two channels: directly to Iranian officials and through regional mediators working to keep the situation from spiralling further.

The administration’s position is that Iran broke the terms of the memorandum of understanding it signed with the US three weeks ago by repeatedly opening fire on commercial vessels traveling through and near the strait. Those attacks led to several rounds of fighting and brought the already shaky agreement to the brink of collapse, culminating in President Trump declaring the ceasefire over this week.

US officials say Iran’s inability to stick to something as basic as this commitment has raised real doubts about whether the country can be trusted to follow through on a far more complicated nuclear agreement down the line.

Context matters here. Even before the memorandum was signed, Oman had already sided with the US and its Gulf partners by opening a southern route near its own coastline for ships to use. Iran saw that move as undercutting its negotiating leverage and reacted with anger. According to the Axios report, Iranian negotiators have privately admitted that hardline factions within the regime opened fire on ships specifically to try to regain that lost leverage.

Publicly, though, Iranian negotiators, IRGC commanders, and other senior officials have all maintained a unified stance demanding that Iran keep control over navigation through the strait.

A second official warned of serious consequences if Iran doesn’t fall in line, saying it wouldn’t be a good outcome for Iran if its position hasn’t shifted by the following day. The US has already carried out two rounds of strikes against Iran in response to the Hormuz attacks.