Tehran Claims Right to Hormuz as US Talks Continue

US President Donald Trump has signalled cautious optimism over negotiations with Iran but stressed that the United States would not ease pressure until a deal is concluded.

"The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time and get it right", he wrote.

Trump said relations between Washington and Tehran were becoming "much more professional and productive" but added that he had instructed his negotiators not to rush, as time, in his view, was on the US side.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mujtaba Khamenei, said the management of the Strait of Hormuz was Iran's "legal right" and was meant to ensure the country's national security. Iranian management of the strategic waterway, he added, would end "50 years of insecurity in the Persian Gulf".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced that 33 ships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours after receiving permission from Tehran.

(reuters, max)