Daijiworld Media Network - Tehran
Tehran, Aug 9: Iran has issued fresh demands for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the strategic waterway will remain closed until the United States "corrects its behaviour", as tensions escalated following an alleged Iranian missile attack on a UAE vessel and fresh strikes by Yemen's military against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the country's top security body, said the United States must never threaten Iran again and must permanently end its war with Iran and its armed allies in the region.
The statement, issued by council secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, demanded that Washington lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports, withdraw its military forces from the region, "completely compensate" Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and "unconditionally" release frozen Iranian assets.
There was no immediate response from the United States, which has sought an acceptable agreement on the Strait of Hormuz before ending the blockade. Iran had earlier said it was close to reaching an agreement with Oman to manage the waterway, which lies between the two countries.
Oman, which has been mediating the talks, said on Saturday that discussions were continuing in a "positive and constructive atmosphere" and condemned attacks on ships in the strait.
A vessel owned by Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC was attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Emirati authorities said. The UAE Foreign Ministry said Iran had fired the missile as part of attacks on commercial shipping.
ADNOC said there were no casualties in the attack early Saturday. The company said more than a dozen of its vessels had been attacked by missiles and drones while passing through the strait since the United States and Israel launched the war on Iran in February. One crew member has been killed and 20 others wounded, it said.
ADNOC did not provide details about the location of the attack or any damage to the vessel. Later, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said a vessel east of Khasab in Oman had been struck by a projectile, causing a fire that was subsequently extinguished. The vessel and crew were reported safe. It was not immediately clear whether the incident was the same as the ADNOC attack.
Iran and Oman have been discussing an agreement to manage the waterway, which had been regarded as an international passage before the war.
In Yemen, the military launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in response to recent strikes by the group in central and eastern parts of the country.
Col Majed al-Nazili, spokesperson for Yemen's military, said the attacks targeted the rebels' "sites and capabilities" on multiple front lines, without providing further details.
The escalation between the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognised government, backed by a Saudi-supported coalition, has raised fears of a renewed civil war following a truce reached in 2022.
United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg on Friday urged all sides to exercise restraint, warning that Yemen faced a greater risk of renewed large-scale conflict than at any point since the UN-brokered truce of April 2022.
Meanwhile, Turkey's parliament on Saturday moved forward with draft legislation aimed at advancing a peace process with Kurdish insurgents.
A parliamentary committee approved the measure, which includes a conditional pardon-like mechanism for thousands of former fighters. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) last year announced plans to disarm and disband as part of an initiative aimed at ending its decades-long conflict with the Turkish state.
The proposed legislation, which is expected to be considered by the general assembly next week, sets out procedures for the group's disarmament and the rehabilitation of some PKK members. It would suspend certain prison sentences for people convicted of membership and postpone the prosecution of others.
The measures would take effect after Turkey's National Security Council confirms that the group has disbanded and surrendered all weapons.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since it began in the 1980s and has extended into neighbouring Iraq and Syria. Turkey and its Western allies classify the PKK as a terrorist organisation.