'Chess player' Iran says Hormuz stays shut until US pays up

By Aleksandar Brezar & Gael Camba Published on 10/08/2026 - 15:26 GMT+2 Share Comments Add Euronews on Google Share Facebook Twitter Flipboard Send Reddit Linkedin Messenger Telegram VK Bluesky Threads Whatsapp Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson shot back that Iranians had "shown they are professional chess players" after Trump said he was "low-keying it" and likened talks with Tehran to a chess game. Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States meets its conditions as Iranians have shown "they are professional chess players," Tehran said on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “It is up to the US side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday, in reference to the US blockade of Iranian ports. "Lights out or lights on, Iranians showed they are professional chess players," Baghaei added, in reference to US President Donald Trump likening the negotiations to a "board game". Trump on Sunday signalled he was prepared to let economic pressure mount against Iran, apparently backing away from more military strikes after Tehran issued a list of demands for opening the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran wants Washington to lift the blockade, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran's frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a key waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil supplies — has become the war’s most lasting consequence. The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of US politics ahead of November’s midterm elections. Iran is holding separate talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including potentially a temporary shipping corridor, however Tehran said that any actual reopening is contingent on talks with the U.S. Trump had earlier been quoted by news outlet Axios as saying he was "low-keying it" with Iran. "We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money," he said. "It will work out. It always works out. It's like a chess game," Trump added. Iranian official Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr on Saturday laid out Tehran's demands, including an end to the "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq". He also demanded the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and compensation for wartime damage, the Tasnim news agency reported. Baghaei on Monday reiterated that "as long as the US naval blockade continues ... the necessary conditions for saying that the Strait of Hormuz has become a safe waterway will not exist". Tehran had been engaged in negotiations with Washington on ending the war launched by the US and Israel in late February, but a preliminary deal fell apart, and its officials have said talks are now limited to exchanging messages through mediators. Khamenei meets Pezeshkian? Meanwhile, Tehran reported that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian recently met with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since assuming the post early in the war. "Dr Masoud Pezeshkian met Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and spoke with him at the start of his third year in the presidency," Khamenei's office said in a statement on Sunday, without indicating the date of the meeting. Pezeshkian, who took office in July 2024, had said in early May that he met with Khamenei, also without specifying the date, but the ayatollah's office did not issue any statements at the time. Pezeshkian had said on Wednesday that communication with Khamenei was "very difficult at the moment", and speculation has swirled about the ayatollah's health after he was reportedly wounded in strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. No clear indications exist on his actual wherabouts and condition, with US officials stating earlier in the war that the younger Khamenei was severely injured and likely "disfigured" in the opening salvo of the war on 28 February, while reports from inside Iran claimed he was in hiding out of precaution amid concerns over his safety. Pezeshkian, who is a medical doctor by trade, was also reported to have been at least partly in charge of his recovery, although there was no official confirmation of those claims. Mojtaba Khamenei's office said that the ayatollah and Pezeshkian "discussed in detail the country's issues and problems", including the "current military situation and future prospects". On Sunday, Tasnim news agency cited an IRGC general as saying that images showing Khamenei among the people and during meetings would be "published in the future," without offering a timeline. It is unclear how involved Khamenei might be in the ongoing negotiations with Washington, but reports have indicated that the IRGC — an elite paramilitary force of the Islamic Republic under the direct command of the ayatollah — is likely playing an outsized role in Tehran's positions and demands. Tehran touts 'change of perception' in the region Baghaei said on Monday that a defence pact signed last week between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan was "a sign of a change in the perception" of countries in the region towards the US. "The countries of the region have realised that security is not a commodity that can be bought from false brokers," Baghaei said. Washington is an ally of the three signatories to the pact. "Countries in the region cannot rely on the claim of security provided by the US as in the past," he added. He also said Iran was not concerned that the pact could be aimed at Tehran, considering "deep religious, historical and civilisational ties" with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. There was "no reason to worry that this treaty will be against Iran", Baghaei said. Related Oil prices rise as traders assess US-Iran talks on Strait of Hormuz dealSaudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan sign new defence pact amid US-Iran tensions The three nations signed the agreement on Friday against the backdrop of a five-month war between the US and Iran, which has drawn in surrounding nations and disrupted regional shipping routes. Pakistan's foreign ministry said Friday that the pact meant an attack on any member would be regarded as an attack on all, adding it was "intended to strengthen collective deterrence". 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