Darzi Accuses US Blockade of Threatening Hormuz Shipping at Security Council Meeting

Key Facts

Iran’s envoy to the United Nations, Gholam Hossein Darzi, said responsibility for any disruption or obstruction of navigation in the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz lies with the “aggressors,” during a Security Council meeting on maritime security on October 29, 2026, Press TV reported. Darzi rejected holding Tehran responsible, saying attempts to shift blame onto it were “baseless and lack credibility.” The Iranian envoy described the US naval blockade as the root cause of maritime instability and accused Washington of threatening civilian shipping. These accusations remain part of the position Darzi presented, including his legal and humanitarian characterization of the blockade. His remarks came as the Strait of Hormuz faces escalating disputes over freedom of navigation and responsibility for disrupting it.

Darzi said the Strait of Hormuz remained “fully open and safe” until February 28, 2026, the day he said the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran. He thus linked the start of the war, in his account, to the change in the security of navigation through the passage. As part of his accusations, he said US forces attacked the Iranian commercial vessel “Touska” on April 19, 2026. He also accused US forces of attacking the Iranian search-and-rescue vessels “Naji 15” and “Naji 16” in Iranian territorial waters on July 23, 2026. These incidents were not presented in the article as independently verified findings, but as part of Darzi’s account of events that he said explain Tehran’s position on navigation and the blockade.

Darzi warned that the US blockade, as he described it, threatens civilians’ access to food, medicine, fuel and other essential supplies. He thereby raised a humanitarian dimension to Iran’s objection, alongside its accusation that Washington had violated sovereignty. In a letter dated October 21, 2026, Darzi asked the UN secretary-general and the president of the Security Council to condemn the US naval blockade and work to lift it. In the letter, Iran called on the council to demand that the United States stop what it described as military aggression against Iran and lift the blockade. The letter’s request reflects Tehran’s effort to move its objection from statements at the meeting into a formal UN process.

Against the backdrop of the crisis, the Associated Press reported that Pakistan and Qatar mediated an agreement in June 2026 aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, ending the US blockade of Iranian ports and starting broader nuclear negotiations. The agency said the agreement quickly faltered as attacks resumed. This diplomatic track places Darzi’s remarks in the context of previous attempts to contain the crisis through an understanding linking navigation, the blockade and nuclear negotiations. At the meeting, the Iranian envoy focused on holding the United States and its allies responsible for disruption to navigation and calling for the blockade to be lifted. The available information did not include a specific later date for a meeting or a new diplomatic step.