What did Iran say about Hormuz status?

Iran rejects returning Hormuz to pre-war normal

As the United States prepared its “Project Freedom” effort to guide ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian officials reiterated that the strait’s wartime conditions will not revert to what existed before the conflict.

The coverage includes a statement attributed to an Iranian lawmaker that the waterway “will not return to pre-war state,” framing Hormuz as permanently altered by the ongoing war context. In parallel, Iran has continued to respond to U.S. and diplomatic proposals, including references to reviewing or reacting to peace plans.

This matters for global shipping because the Strait of Hormuz is widely treated as the world’s key maritime chokepoint for energy trade. If Iran signals that it intends to keep leveraging or sustaining a changed posture in the area, that can affect how shipping companies and insurers price risk—even if U.S. forces are present.

For U.S. implications, that stance also helps explain why policymakers are pairing escort language with warnings about interference. The U.S. is effectively trying to create a corridor of safer passage while Iran simultaneously communicates that it does not consider the corridor temporary or reversible.

Taken together, the U.S. announcement and Iran’s position point to continued uncertainty: the U.S. is moving toward active maritime involvement, while Iran is maintaining conditions that may keep the risk premium elevated for tankers and cargo vessels transiting the region.