Iran is insisting that the U.S. meet its demands in negotiations before the Strait of Hormuz reopens, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday.
"It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions," Esmail Baghaei said, noting the American blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran wants the U.S. to lift the blockade, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran's frozen assets.
The strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the conflict, has been effectively blocked since the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, pushing up oil prices and inflation.
The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November's midterm elections.
Iran, meanwhile, is holding separate talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including potentially a temporary shipping corridor. But it has said any actual reopening is contingent on talks with the U.S.
Baghaei said that talks with Oman on arrangements for navigation through the strait were "progressing smoothly and constructively," with an agreement reached on a shipping route map, while some technical issues on a joint statement remained unresolved.
He said during a weekly press conference in Tehran that the discussions also covered mechanisms for safe navigation, environmental protection, maritime services and combating crime.
Tehran also intends to charge commercial vessels fees for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the ministry added.
Fees and charges would be levied for maritime services provided to ships, Baghaei explained.
The dispute over transit rights in the strait is considered one of the main triggers for the recent escalation in the military conflict between Washington and Tehran.
Before the war, shipping through the strait proceeded largely undisturbed without tolls or fees for transit.
The Strait of Hormuz measures only around 39 kilometers at its narrowest point.
Since Iran and Oman each claim the maximum 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometres) allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as their territorial waters, there are no international waters in the strait.
UNCLOS guarantees a right of transit passage and prohibits a blockade of commercial vessels. Iran does not accept this legal position.
The U.S. goal is to restore pre-war levels of oil and gas transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Vice President JD Vance said Sunday.
