IRAN PERSPECTIVE

Tehran, July 15, 2026. Iran's diplomatic chief has pushed back against Donald Trump's rhetoric on the Strait of Hormuz. On X, Abbas Araghchi mocked the US president's announcement that he would be the "guardian of the Hormuz strait" and wanted to impose a 20% tax on freight passing through the waterway: "Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the strait and will remain so FOREVER," he wrote, adding, "20%, that's obviously too much. We will be fair." The phrase summarizes Iran's position: contesting the legitimacy of the US guard without denying the principle of compensation for securing the passage.

This diplomatic spat comes amid a context of direct military escalation. According to Iran International, the US military struck around 90 targets across Iran after Trump deemed the interim agreement null and void, citing Iranian attacks on merchant ships in the strait. Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting US interests in Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Iran's Foreign Ministry claims that the US strikes targeted civilian infrastructure, including two railway bridges on the road to Mashhad - at the very moment when authorities were preparing to bury former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, a coincidence perceived by some Iranians as an attempt to disrupt the funeral.

Testimonies collected by Iran International suggest less a bellicose surge and more a sense of exhaustion after nearly four months of conflict: growing economic pressure, permanent anxiety, life suspended between "neither war nor peace". Analysts cited by the same media estimate that Tehran continues to sell its oil to China and that the widest maritime blockade has not been fully reestablished, which for now limits the worst-case scenario feared by the Revolutionary Guards.

The memorandum intended to end the conflict has not prevented the resumption of hostilities, but could still serve as a framework to contain the escalation between the two capitals.