On Sept. 1 Iranian parliament speaker Ghalibaf said Iran will not permit US
attempts to breach a memorandum of understanding by sending ships through the
southern route of the Strait of Hormuz. He said pre-conflict traffic was at
at least 120 vessels per day and current transits are far lower. Ghalibaf said the
strait is under full Iranian military control and that US efforts to send a
small number of ships were met with Iranian resistance. He accused the US of
falsely claiming vessels could pass while ships were being attacked, and said
Iran has demonstrated battlefield control and that adversaries cannot stop its
missiles; Iran will hold qualitative and quantitative superiority in the next
phase.
