Iranian Speaker Dismisses US Claim That Iran Doesn't Control Strait of Hormuz

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed a US assertion that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that the way markets price risk around the waterway tells a different story than Washington's claim.

Ghalibaf's remarks, made in Tehran, respond to statements from US officials that have downplayed Iran's influence over the strait, a narrow passage through which a large portion of the world's seaborne oil trade moves.

By pointing to market pricing, Ghalibaf appeared to be arguing that traders and markets factor in the risk of Iranian action around Hormuz, taking that as evidence that Iran's potential influence over the strait is taken seriously regardless of official US statements to the contrary.

The exchange is the latest in a series of public statements from Iranian officials responding to comments made by members of the Trump administration regarding Iran's capabilities and its proposals related to the strait.

Control over, or influence around, the Strait of Hormuz has long been a point of leverage and contention between Iran and the United States, given the waterway's outsized importance to global energy markets.