South Korea, US to discuss wartime command transfer

An Iranian lawmaker said on Thursday that passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be impossible without accepting the Islamic Republic’s authority over the waterway.

Ghasem Ravanbakhsh said the United States had no choice but to accept “the new legal regime” in the strategic strait.

He added that the White House had tried to use proxy forces and the United Arab Emirates to create an alternate route for supplying energy to the United States and Europe but faced the Islamic Republic’s “power.”

Iran’s nationwide internet blackout entered its 69th day on Thursday after 1,632 hours of severe disruption to international connectivity, internet monitor NetBlocks said.

“The shutdown continues to drive job losses with a disproportionate impact on independent workers, effectively redistributing wealth to regime-aligned groups,” it added in a post on X.

Iran’s embassy in Seoul denied on Thursday any involvement by Iranian armed forces in damage to a South Korean-operated vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.

The embassy said in a statement that it “firmly rejects and categorically denies any allegations” regarding the incident.

It added, however, that “disregard for the declared requirements and operational realities in an environment influenced by military and security tensions may lead to unintended incidents.”

The statement was issued after a Panama-flagged ship operated by South Korea’s HMM suffered an explosion and caught fire on Monday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot ruled out on Thursday lifting any international sanctions on Iran as long as the Strait of Hormuz remained blocked.

Barrot told France’s RTL radio that Iran, “or at least the Iranian regime,” was seeking sanctions relief from the United States in return for steps on its nuclear program.

“But it is out of the question that the slightest sanction could be lifted as long as a strait like Hormuz is blocked,” he said.

Only about 2,000 of more than 27,000 workers at Isfahan’s Mobarakeh Steel Company have returned to work after US and Israeli strikes on the site, Tehran-based news website Rouydad24 reported on Thursday.

Those who returned were mainly administrative and managerial staff and production at the major steel complex remained halted, according to the report.

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