Tehran Doubles Down On Hormuz Demands As Hardline IRGC Commander Promoted To National Security Chief

After President Trump said Sunday that the US is now “low-keying it” with Iran and only “semi-negotiating” following a top Iranian security official having laid out multiple stringent conditions for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, oil is edging higher on Monday.

“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump told Axios reporter Barak Ravid in comments we analyzed earlier, signaling his return to an economic warfare focus. President Trump has fewer and fewer options and is being squeezed, with any opportunity to declare ‘victory’ and make swift exit more elusive than ever, given Washington would have to make huge compromises, including lifting sanctions and paying war compensation to Tehran.

“The Supreme National Security Council will not retreat from these demands, whether in war or in negotiations,” the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr has said, in effect doubling down, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.

Hardline IRGC Commander Moved to Top Security Chief Spot

But speaking of Zolghadr, its been widely reported that a ‘hardline’ former IRGC commander will take his place. The NY Times explains:

Iran is replacing its top national security adviser with a longtime military commander whose appointment could represent a further consolidation of power by the country’s old-guard security establishment.

Mohsen Rezaei, who led Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, will be the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, a spokesman for Iran’s president wrote on social media on Sunday. He had been serving as an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

Mr. Rezaei is replacing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who stepped into the role when the council’s previous secretary, Ali Larijani, was killed in an Israeli strike during the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran earlier this year.

This is yet another likely sign that Tehran sees itself in the driver’s seat, will not back off its demands and conditions for reopening Hormuz, and plans to make an exit from the conflict for Washington as painful as possible, extracting as much as it can while smelling weakness.

Ali Nikzad, Iran’s deputy speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, has emphasized that the Strait of Hormuz is not going to return to its pre-war condition, addressing the body on Monday.

He said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran tried to inform the aggressor and deluded enemy of the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is not going to return to the pre-war conditions during the days of the war.”

WSJ: the feared oil crunch may not have been avoided, just delayed. The likely reason is that the world had more “hidden” oil inventories than analysts realized. But those stockpiles are finite. If Hormuz remains disrupted, prices could rise sharply once they’re exhausted. pic.twitter.com/lKRvLnoiZG

— Sina Toossi (@SinaToossi) August 7, 2026

“Unfortunately, they tried to pretend not to know, but the passage of time is the greatest teacher for deluded people, and today the American-Zionist enemy, with a strong fist of armed forces, has practically realized that the opening of the Strait of Hormuz has no military solution and must submit to the new order in the region,” Nikzad stated.

Return to Focus on Economic War

He went on to admit that a focus on reducing the country’s economic challenges is at this moment the highest priority. This is where the US hopes to regain some leverage, with the aforementioned Axios interview including the following declarations by Trump:

• He stressed that Iran “is in very bad shape” economically and has no money to pay its troops. The U.S. naval blockade has exacerbated the Iranian regime’s economic crisis, Trump said.
• At the same time, Trump said that with oil down to slightly over $75 a barrel, U.S. consumers are feeling less pain from the war.
• “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” Trump said of the back-and-forth with Iran.

However, the assumption that the Islamic Republic is ever on the verge of economic panic and collapse is the same talking point that existed at the very start of Operation Epic Fury – and there’s as yet been no snowball. Instead in some ways the population and leadership may have ‘toughened’ and adapted amid wartime conditions.

“Iran is not overplaying. It’s just playing its hand.”

Johns Hopkins scholar Vali Nasr tells host Tom Switzer that Washington’s fixation on Tehran “overplaying its hand” reflects disbelief at how dramatically the balance of power has shifted.

“Iran is not overplaying. It’s just playing its hand,” he said.

Iran sees a narrow window… pic.twitter.com/7sL9ryc5Jw

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 10, 2026

Three Scenarios of Iran’s Strategy

Trita Parsi, who is co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and co-founded the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), lays out three scenarios on Iran’s potential strategy.

“The NYT reports that Iran has effectively rejected a deal on the Strait and presented a list of very hard-line demands in order for an agreement to be reached,” he wrote over the weekend. “My understanding of what has transpired differs somewhat. I see three possible interpretations, some of which overlap with the NYT’s reporting”…

1. There are divisions within the Iranian system in which hardline elements want to prolong the talks and have the current blockade inflict more damage on Trump and the global economy. Their narrative is that Iran agreed to the MOU too quickly, which contributed to the MOU’s deterioration later. Tehran should have held out longer then, and it should also do so now, essentially. A variation of this explanation is what the USG is advancing: The lack of agreement is because of divisions in Iran.

2. Rather than a division, it may also be that a united system is seeking to prolong the talks to pressure the US. As such, a narrative of divisions in Iran may be seen as helpful, as it diverts from an arguably more problematic reality: The more flexible elements within the Iranian system also agree that talks should be prolonged.

3. The Iranian narrative, however, is that new elements were added to the talks at the last minute by the US and that Iran’s on-the-surface hardened position is a reaction to what Tehran says is an attempt by the US to move the goalposts. Whether this is true or not, Tehran has tended to react in this manner (escalation) when it believes the US has shifted its position or added additional demands at the last minute. This is, however, not a denial of Zolghadr’s list of demands.

Parsi concludes: “That list is an accurate reflection of Iran’s broader goals, but ultimately, they won’t be its demands for the immediate deal on the Strait. If the truth is closer to the third explanation, then a deal may still be within reach in the short term.”

Weekend & Overnight Developments

• Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said Iran and the US are not engaged in talks, and Tehran will not allow them to start as long as Washington breaches the interim deal signed in June.
• Iran said it is very close to a deal with Oman regarding a new maritime transit route in the Strait of Hormuz, but it renewed a list of demands for the US to agree to before the waterway could open. It was separately reported that Iran warned it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the US meets a series of conditions, including paying compensation for war damage, according to FT.
• Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued six demands to the US, including total force withdrawal, end to proxy warfare, financial reparations, sanctions and asset relief, lifting the blockade and cessation of rhetoric.
• The wait for the Iran-Oman deal regarding the Strait of Hormuz dragged on, with Iran warning the US that any pact wouldn’t lead to an immediate reopening of the key waterway.
• UKMTO reported that a vessel near Oman was struck by an unknown projectile, which caused a fire on board but has been extinguished.
• Saudi Arabia put out a fire at its Jazan plant early on Sunday, while Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the refinery.
• It was separately reported that Houthis resumed attacking Yemen’s Mocha port using ballistic missiles and drones, with the attacks aimed at Saudi troop concentrations and weapon depots in the region.
• Israel again targeted Alia Al-Tahir Hill in the Al-Nabatiyeh a governorate in southern Lebanon with artillery fire, according to IRNA
• Israeli PM Netanyahu said Israel does not accept a US-backed 15-point plan for Gaza, under which Hamas would disarm in exchange for a phased Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, according to FT.
• US official said the White House is not bothered by Israeli PM Netanyahu’s statement on Gaza plan and sees it as part of election season in Israel, according to Axios
• The Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on Sunday approved the general outlines of a bill to manage the Strait of Hormuz, according to ISNA.