Key Takeaways:
Iran's parliament has effectively declared the US-Iran memorandum of understanding dead, with more than 180 lawmakers demanding punishment for what they called an act of war.
More than 180 Iranian parliament members signed a statement Monday declaring the Iran-US memorandum of understanding void and demanding "revenge" and "punishment" for perpetrators of attacks on the country, as the Strait of Hormuz becomes the flashpoint for a resurgent conflict.
"The enemy has formally entered a state of war and violated all terms of the MOU, rendering it null and void," Mohammad Reza Rezaei, a member of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on social media.
The escalation follows President Donald Trump's decision to resume daily strikes and reinstate a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 20 percent of global oil transit. The US imposed a 20 percent tax on cargo passing through the waterway, while Iran's military said it launched attacks on US sites in Bahrain and Jordan. Two UAE tankers were struck by Iranian missiles, killing an Indian sailor, according to the UAE defense ministry.
The collapse of the 60-day truce signed less than a month ago threatens to disrupt global oil supplies at a time when crude prices are already under pressure from supply-side risks. The lawmakers' call to accelerate a Strait of Hormuz management bill signals Tehran is preparing legislative tools to assert control over the chokepoint, raising the prospect of a sustained supply shock.
The parliamentary statement also called for establishing a special committee to review the negotiations and the MOU with the US, and urged state bodies to strengthen defensive deterrence capabilities. The number of signatories was still growing, according to the Fars News Agency report.
Trump told the Hugh Hewitt Show on Monday that the US would "hit them very hard tonight and going to hit them hard tomorrow," while US Central Command confirmed a third consecutive night of strikes. The president notified Congress on Friday that military operations had resumed, granting the Pentagon another 60 days to conduct operations without additional approval.
The last time Iran's parliament issued a similarly broad condemnation of a diplomatic agreement was in 2019, following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, when lawmakers voted to label the Pentagon a terrorist organization. That escalation preceded a period of tanker seizures in the Gulf and drone strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities that temporarily knocked out half of the kingdom's production.
The UK separately designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a threat to national security Monday, linking the group to arson and vandalism attacks on Jewish sites in Britain. The government banned the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, a proxy group it said was backed by Iran and responsible for the attacks.
For oil markets, the stakes are clear. The Strait of Hormuz saw about 17 million barrels per day of crude and petroleum products transit in 2025, according to the US Energy Information Administration. A sustained disruption — even a partial one — would ripple through global supply chains, pushing shipping costs higher and forcing import-dependent nations in Asia and Europe to draw down strategic reserves.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
