Iran never to relinquish control of Strait of Hormuz: parliament speaker

Iran's top officials issued a series of statements on Friday, claiming absolute control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a social media post on Friday that control of the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran, which is a fact that has already been acknowledged by the United States, stressing that Iran will never give up its jurisdiction over the Strait of Hormuz.

He said that U.S. President Donald Trump is "extremely eager" to reach an agreement with Iran, signaling the failure of alleged U.S. plan to destroy Iranian civilization.

Ghalibaf said that the United States has so far taken no military action in its naval blockade against Iran, and that Iran would never tolerate such actions.

Separately, Iranian Navy Commander Shahram Irani on Friday described the U.S. naval blockade as an act of "piracy."

Irani was quoted as saying by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency that Trump's so-called naval blockade is in fact a blockade of his friends, not of Iran.

In a further hardening of Iran's position, Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Friday that Iran demands a complete end to all conflicts across the region.

According to Iranian media reports, Khatibzadeh said that any ceasefire must cover all conflict zones "from Lebanon to the Red Sea," calling this a "red line" for Iran.

The deputy foreign minister stressed that Iran does not accept any temporary ceasefire, and that the cycle of conflict must be stopped completely.

On the other side of the waterway, Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said on Friday that the United States will continue its naval blockade on Iran-linked vessels until Trump orders its removal.

The U.S. military presence in the region can be maintained indefinitely, as long as it is necessary, Cooper said in a telephone interview.

Cooper noted that no U.S. vessels have come under attack since the operation began. He also disclosed that U.S. forces have started mine-clearance operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier on Friday, Trump posted on social media that Iran, with U.S. assistance, has either already cleared or is in the process of clearing all mines in the waterway.

Iran never to relinquish control of Strait of Hormuz: parliament speaker

Teams attending the 2026 humanoid robot half-marathon are racing to fine-tune every detail before hitting the course on Sunday.

As the world's first humanoid robot marathon, this year's event will see a record 112 teams taking part, including five international teams from countries including Germany, France and Brazil.

Co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal People's Government and China Media Group, the event covers two main categories – autonomous navigation and remote control – with autonomous navigation teams accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total.

One week ago, a full-scale test of the event has already been conducted in Beijing's E-Town Economic and Technological Development Area.

"Really impressive! When I see what they've done in the first marathon that happened last year and what we saw this year, I'm impressed by the advancements that have been made. Last year, some robots had some hard time to just stay standing, but now this year almost every robot is able to stand. And they all focus on performances and that's very exciting," said Etienne, a member of Paris-Saclay University Team.

The 21-kilometer race route covers more than 10 types of terrain including flat ground, slopes, curves, and narrow sections. It features 12 left turns and 10 right turns, including several near-90-degree curves, providing complex environment for robots to test their adaptation and decision-making capabilities.

"This event requires robots to achieve such high mobility autonomously on the course, which poses a significant test of their agility. Even for humans, executing sharp turns under such complex conditions is quite challenging. For robots, this setup further increases the technical difficulty and challenge," said Zhao Mingguo, a researcher at the Department of Automation of Tsinghua University.

Humanoid robots gear up for Beijing half-marathon