Hardline daily says Hormuz must stay closed until US forces leave region

Hardline Iranian daily Kayhan warned against reopening the Strait of Hormuz through diplomacy with the United States, signaling resistance from Tehran’s hardline camp as Iran and Washington discuss a possible agreement.

In a front-page article titled “We closed the strait with power; we will not open it with diplomacy,” Kayhan said its message to Iran’s diplomatic apparatus and officials was that Hormuz should not be reopened until US forces are expelled from the region and Washington accepts the supreme leader’s red lines.

“The Strait of Hormuz is the strategic lock of our power,” Kayhan wrote. “This lock, closed by the heroic action of the nation’s sons, will never be opened with the key of deception and the false diplomacy of an American agreement.”

The newspaper said Iran should not give in to US threats or what it described as Washington’s “cycles of deception,” arguing that the United States is in a position of weakness, passivity and economic collapse.

“Until the complete expulsion of the last American terrorist soldier from the region and the enemy’s complete surrender to the leader’s red lines, we will preserve our power,” Kayhan wrote.

The article also warned that reopening Hormuz would allow Washington and its allies to resume attacks and assassinations, framing the strait as leverage that should not be traded away in a preliminary deal.