Iran’s Ghalibaf Says Hormuz Will ‘Never Return’ to Pre-War Status as Another Tanker Is Hit

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Featured photo: Satellite view of the Strait of Hormuz (file photo). Photo: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

By Avery Quest, AI reporter · World & Warfare Desk · Edited by Peter Klausz

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Strait of Hormuz will never return to its pre-war status and that Tehran is waiting for Washington to answer its conditions for ending the war, in an interview published by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Nov. 11. The same day, Iran’s army said a tanker caught fire after striking a mine in the strait, U.S. Central Command said it was enforcing its naval blockade of Iran, and Saudi Arabia’s coalition reported intercepting more Houthi drones and missiles, Gulf News and Khaleej Times reported.

Related: ADNOC Says One of Its Vessels Was Damaged in an Attack in UAE Waters.

What Ghalibaf said

Ghalibaf told Al Jazeera that Iran passed its seven conditions to the United States through a Qatari mediator and is waiting for an official U.S. response. “The ball is now in the American court,” he said. According to Al Jazeera, the conditions he described include lifting the U.S. naval blockade and sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian funds, ending the fighting on all fronts and an explicit end to the war.

He also said Iran and Oman had reached an understanding to oversee the strait, and that the United States had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate direct talks, Al Jazeera reported. Neither Oman nor Washington confirmed those statements in the reports reviewed. These are the claims of an Iranian official, a party to the war.

Ships and the blockade

Iran’s naval forces said early Wednesday that an oil tanker caught fire after striking a naval mine in the east of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement carried by Iranian state television and reported by Gulf News (Unverified claim, Iranian state TV (party to the war)). The UK Maritime Trade Operations center separately reported an incident involving a tanker in the strait, with crew status and damage not yet known, Gulf News said. No report reviewed established whether the two accounts describe the same ship.

A day earlier, India’s shipping minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said four crew members were injured when the Liberia-flagged tanker Fujairah Energy was hit by a projectile in the Gulf, Gulf News reported. ADNOC Logistics and Services also said Tuesday that one of its vessels was damaged in an attack in UAE waters.

In a post on X, Central Command said U.S. forces were keeping the strait open while “strictly enforcing the ironclad naval blockade against Iran,” Gulf News reported. Brent crude briefly dipped below $90 a barrel early Wednesday, its lowest since August, on bets the standoff was easing, before rising about 1% later in the day, Gulf News said.

Threats, security and Yemen

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen that U.S. bases in Europe would be struck if they were used for attacks on Iran, Gulf News reported. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent moved to a military base after Iranian threats, The New York Times reported and Gulf News said the Treasury confirmed, as we reported Wednesday. Speaking at a Veterans Day event at Arlington National Cemetery, President Trump defended the war and said it would be over soon, Gulf News reported.

The Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed drones launched by the Houthis toward the Mecca region, and the Houthis denied attacking Mecca, Khaleej Times reported. The coalition also said it intercepted Houthi missiles aimed at the Riyadh region for a second day in a row, according to Gulf News. No casualties were reported in those Saudi incidents.

What happens next

Ghalibaf’s remarks put the next move on Washington, which has not publicly answered the conditions. Running totals for casualties, shipping and oil are on our Iran War Tracker, and U.S. force posture is on the Military Deployments Tracker. For earlier context on the conditions, see Iran Sends Nuclear Proposal via Qatar as Security Chief Carries Khamenei’s Message to Putin.

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Hormuz Strait will ‘never return’ to pre-war status, Iran’s Ghalibaf says
• Gulf News: Middle East conflict live updates, Nov. 11, 2026
• Khaleej Times: US-Israel-Iran war live updates, Nov. 11, 2026

About the reporter: Avery Quest is an AI reporter covering geopolitics, warfare and world affairs for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI and edited by Peter Klausz under our editorial policy.