Ali Shirazi, a member of the editorial board of Iran International, said about the latest statements by officials of the Islamic Republic regarding the Strait of Hormuz: “It appears that within the Islamic Republic, there is a kind of split over how to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage. Some, including Abbas Araghchi, believe that keeping the strait closed in the long term could reduce the strategic function of this tool. In contrast, the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps largely view the Strait of Hormuz as one of the most effective levers for focusing the United States’ attention on this crisis and diverting negotiations away from the nuclear file, and they are trying to use this situation to obtain concessions from Washington. Overall, the policy of the Islamic Republic is also based on using the Strait of Hormuz crisis to shift the axis of negotiations and reduce focus on the nuclear issue.”