The Speaker of Iran's Parliament has declared the opening of the Strait of Hormuz null and void. In a tweet posted on X, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused President Trump of violating the deal opening the Strait of Hormuz and said the Strait is now closed.
Ghalibaf claimed:
1- The President of the United States made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false.
2- They did not win the war with these lies, and they will certainly not get anywhere in negotiations either.
3- With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open.
What he's referring to is the U.S. Central Command announcement that the blockade is continuing:
They are also miffed at USCENTCOM's publication of a list of contraband products and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine's statement on Thursday that U.S. forces will pursue blockade runners out of the USCENTCOM area of operations.
The U.S. reserves the right to search any Iranian vessels, sanctioned vessels and ships suspected of carrying a list of contraband items, according to a Thursday notice to mariners from U.S. Central Command.
Contraband items include weapons, ammunition, explosives and military equipment, the notice reads. Conditional contraband –meaning contraband for aiding Iran’s military operations – includes crude oil, nuclear material, metals and machinery. A full list is included in the blockade update.
To that end, the U.S. will pursue ships outside of the U.S. Central Command area of response, Chief of the Joint Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters Thursday.
To be fair, I don't know what this Ghalibaf fellow does when he's up and has his trousers on, and I don't know how big a stick he swings in a government that has gone through more heads of state in the last six weeks than Elizabeth Taylor had husbands. He has the most significant official Iranian social media presence, so I assume someone pays attention to him.
While we don't know what has been discussed between U.S. and Iranian negotiators, I think we can be fairly certain that the CJCS would not unilaterally announce a policy that ran counter to something agreed to by Vice President Vance's team and the Iranians.
We'll know within 24 hours whether this guy is real or make-believe. We're seeing with increasing frequency Iranian officials playing to a domestic audience by announcing things that are manifestly not true while behaving like a whipped cur dog in private.
Because President Trump has made the opening of the Strait of Hormuz a signature accomplishment (Trump Cheers Strait of Hormuz Reopening During Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire — but There’s a Big Catch), we can be sure he will not let any change of terms and conditions go unanswered; see Trump Puts Left on Notice: 'This Administration Does Not Apologize for American Power'.
