Iranian authorities have insisted they have a “natural and legal right” to control the Strait of Hormuz amid lingering hostilities with the U.S. and Israel.

Tasnim News Agency, an Iranian news outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported this on Wednesday, citing an anonymous Iranian government official.

“Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is a natural and legal right of Iran and will continue to be, and it is also a guarantee of the implementation of the commitments of the other party and must be recognised,” the report said.

According to the report, the Iranian government is not shifting ground in its response to the U.S.’s proposed 15-point plan for negotiations.

“Iran has made it clear in its response that the enemy’s aggressive acts of assassination must end, concrete conditions should be established to ensure that war does not recur again, compensation and war reparations must be guaranteed and clearly determined, and the end of the war should be implemented on all fronts and for all resistance groups that took part in this battle throughout the region,” the report stated.

The anonymous official also “emphasised that it is clear to Iran that the U.S.’s claim about negotiations is merely a “third deception” project, saying the Americans pursue several goals under the guise of claiming negotiations.

“First, to deceive the world by presenting an apparently peaceful image that seeks an end to the war. Second, to keep oil prices low globally. Third, to buy time in order to prepare for a new aggressive action in southern Iran through ground invasion.”

Iran has shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow ocean passageway connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean—through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas is ferried—for four weeks since U.S.-Israel forces launched Operation Epic Fury, killing its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

This development has led to a surge in global oil and gas prices, with experts predicting that, if blockades of the Strait of Hormuz continue, oil prices currently at $100 per barrel will hit $200 per barrel.