Tehran issued a list of conditions on Saturday for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, including that the United States “completely compensate” Iran for war damages, the Associated Press reported.
The United States must never threaten Iran again; must permanently end hostilities in the region; must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area; and must lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets, the report cited Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council as saying.
The council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, issued the statement, according to the report.
The demands come on the backdrop of renewed negotiations between Tehran and Muscat over the opening of a new transit route in the Strait of Hormuz. Oman is situated to the south of the strait.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that the sides are “very close” to finalizing an agreement. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian held a press conference in Tehran the same day, saying that now was the best time for an agreement to end hostilities, the report continued.
“There is cohesion, strength and unity in the country, and as far as I know, Iran is considered victorious and powerful in this war,” Iranian news agencies quoted him as saying.
On Sunday, however, Araghchi said that Tehran and the United States are not currently holding talks, adding that messages are being passed through intermediaries but that “this process is not called negotiation.”
Some mediating countries “are still trying to prepare the ground for negotiations again,” Araghchi said, according to the state-run IRNA outlet.
“In our view, as long as the violation of the Memorandum of Understanding by the American side does not come to an end, and America does not make up for what it has violated, there is no possibility of restarting negotiations,” he added.
Araghchi was speaking on the sidelines of a Foreign Ministry event held by the Institute for Political and International Studies, IRNA reported. The Tehran-based think tank is affiliated with the ministry.
US looking to maximize oil and gas flows
U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke to Fox News on Saturday, saying that Washington is talking to the Iranian regime and is looking to “maximize the amount of oil and gas that is coming out of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Vance said that U.S. forces destroyed Iran’s nuclear program and conventional military in the war that started on Feb. 28, and now Washington is “trying to see if [the Iranians are] willing to make the kind of long-term changes that would be necessary to have a better relationship with the United States—and if not, that’s fine too.”
.@VP: We're talking to the Iranians, of course. We're trying to maximize the amount of oil and gas that is coming out of the Strait of Hormuz. We're just trying to make sure that we get what we need out of this particular conflict. We've destroyed their nuclear program, we've… pic.twitter.com/Nqc6KHLL93
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 8, 2026
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has instructed U.S. defense manufacturers to rapidly increase weapons production and deliveries as the war with Iran depletes stocks of several critical munitions, according to a U.S. Defense Department memo obtained by The Washington Post.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg on Aug. 5 gave industry leaders 21 days to submit plans for significantly faster deliveries or increased production of priority weapons, writing that “years-long development cycles are not acceptable.”
The report comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States had “massive amounts” of munitions and that defense companies were rapidly expanding production. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth separately rejected a CNN report claiming the military had depleted nearly 80% of the interceptor stockpile for a key missile-defense system.
Israel: Iran ‘not to be trusted’
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel supports Trump’s diplomatic effort to curb Iran’s nuclear program but is prepared to act militarily if Tehran refuses to comply.
Doron Spielman, the prime minister’s new international spokesperson, told Newsmax that Iran is “not to be trusted,” describing the government in Tehran as “an absolute terror regime, a genocidal terror regime that seeks to wreak enormous havoc both in Israel and the United States” that “will not have access to a nuclear weapon.”
Spielman said preventing a nuclear-armed Iran was the central point of agreement when Netanyahu and Trump met at the White House two weeks ago.
Israel would prefer a negotiated outcome, he said, but has not ruled out the use of force.
“We also prefer not to send our pilots and our men and women to the area,” said Spielman. “However, if this does not succeed, if the easy way does not succeed, then we will move forward with this and the hard way.”
He said last summer’s U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites had prevented “the rise of the Fourth Reich.”
