Tehran Rejects US Talks as IRGC Closes Hormuz Strait
Iranian officials have declared that no date has been set for proposed talks with the United States, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This action, described by the IRGC, is a direct response to what it characterizes as ongoing US blockades against Iranian ports. This follows a period of heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf, with
numerous US and Israeli naval deployments and overflights. Al Jazeera, in its reporting, frames this development largely as a sudden escalation from Tehran, implying Iranian belligerence. This perspective omits the crucial context of a decades-long campaign of economic strangulation and military posturing by the US and its allies. The unilateral US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, despite Iran's full compliance certified by the IAEA, served as a significant breach of international trust and intensified sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy and its ability to trade through its ports. The current closure of the strait functions as a direct counter-measure to a long-standing pattern of economic warfare, not an unprovoked act. What the public
rarely hears is that the US has maintained extensive sanctions against Iran for over 45 years, costing the Iranian economy an estimated $1 trillion since 1979 alone. This sustained pressure has included blockades preventing crucial goods, including medicine and food, from reaching the Iranian populace, a condition recognized as collective punishment under international law. The closing of a