Iran urges unity as sanctions bite and Hormuz talks with US stay stalled

Dubai,UPDATED: Aug 10, 2026 22:16 IST

Iran's president has said the country's supreme leader is calling for "unity and cohesion" as the Islamic Republic faces economic hardship and sanctions linked to its war with the United States. The remarks came as Iran continued to press its demands on Washington over the Strait of Hormuz, while wider tensions persisted across the Middle East.

Developments on Monday also included Iran appointing a former Revolutionary Guard commander to head its top security council, Israel declaring Taybeh in the occupied West Bank a closed military zone to keep out settlers and other non-residents, and Yemen giving the toll from a Houthi attack on the Red Sea town of Mokha.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with Iranian state television aired on Monday, described a nearly seven-hour meeting with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei amid apparent tensions among the Islamic Republic's leaders. Pezeshkian told state-run IRIB that they discussed "people's livelihoods, the state of the market, employment, people's housing," as well as "problems that are now being created as a result of the (US) sanctions". He did not say when or where the meeting took place.

Pezeshkian said the most important point was Khamenei's emphasis on unity. "All of the enemy's plans are aimed at creating division," he said. "What we have to do is prevent divisions from emerging." It was only the second time the Iranian president has said he has met the new supreme leader since Khamenei was appointed in March after a US-Israeli strike that killed his father. Khamenei, who is believed to have been wounded in the same attack, has not appeared in public since then.

Iran also said it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States met its conditions. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, "It is up to the US side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions," referring to the American blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran wants the US to end the blockade, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran's frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil supplies, has become the war's most lasting consequence. Iran is also holding separate talks with Oman on transit through the strait, including the possibility of a temporary shipping corridor, though any reopening remains tied to talks with the US.

On Sunday, Iran appointed Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to the new supreme leader, to head the Supreme Security Council. Rezaei led Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard from 1981 to 1997, including during the 1980s war with Iraq. The 71-year-old hardliner last week warned of "serious risks and casualties" for American forces if the US did not lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

Rezaei replaces Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who took the post in March after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli strike. Zolghadr will become a political adviser to Khamenei. The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think-tank, wrote that Rezaei appears willing to negotiate with the US to "secure Iran's maximalist aims, including control of the Strait of Hormuz", but has also been "unwilling to present any Iranian concessions".

In the occupied West Bank, Israel's military said it had declared Taybeh, a Christian-majority town, a closed military zone to keep out Israeli settlers and other non-residents. The move is aimed at preventing Israelis from entering the town, which is surrounded by settlements to the east and west and has seen arson, vandalism and settlers entering private and village property.

The order does not apply to Palestinian residents or journalists, unless soldiers decide their presence poses a threat, the army said. It also said troops would detain suspects and disperse gatherings to keep the peace. The designation follows months of the army and police struggling to maintain order across the territory, where at least 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers in 2026, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry. Parts of Taybeh are in Area B, where Israel keeps security control, but residents have said the army and police are slow to respond to attacks by extremist settlers.

In Yemen, Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked the Red Sea port town of Mokha on Sunday, killing seven people and injuring 30, according to Yemen's Defence Ministry under the internationally recognised government. The ministry said the dead included four military personnel and three civilians. The attack is part of one of the largest waves of Houthi strikes on Yemeni military positions and areas held by the Saudi-backed government since a 2022 truce, and comes as threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have renewed attention on the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with some shipping moving to that route.

Overall, Monday's developments reflected the pressure Iran is facing at home and abroad, with its leadership stressing unity, its dispute with the US over the Strait of Hormuz unresolved, and tensions continuing in the West Bank and Yemen.

With PTI Inputs

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