A widening rift between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is threatening to complicate US-Iran negotiations, as Tehran’s civilian leadership prioritizes sanctions relief and frozen funds while the IRGC presses to retain control over the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.
The dispute has emerged as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Doha for talks with Qatari mediators on implementing parts of a recent US-Iran memorandum of understanding. Iranian officials said no direct high-level meeting with the American side was planned.
“No meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled for the coming days,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.
Baghaei said the Doha contacts would focus on implementation issues, including blocked Iranian assets.
“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” he said.
Pezeshkian has been seeking the release of $6 billion in Iranian funds held in Qatar, part of a larger pool of frozen assets.
During a visit to Qom, where he met Grand Ayatollah Mousa Shobeiri Zanjani, the president described the US-Iran memorandum as “a great victory” for the Iranian people and said the first half of Iran’s $12 billion in frozen assets in Qatar would be returned.
But the IRGC’s focus is reportedly elsewhere: keeping command over traffic through Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy corridors.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian military officials have pushed for a toll system that could generate as much as $40 billion a year and reinforce Iran’s leverage over Gulf shipping.
The issue has become a central obstacle in the talks. Iranian officials have argued that Tehran and Oman have sovereign authority over the strait, while Washington has rejected any arrangement that would allow Iran to collect tolls from commercial vessels.
“The sovereignty of the Strait of Hormuz lies with Iran and Oman, and traffic in the Strait is subject to arrangements determined by Iran,” Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said on state television.
Vice President JD Vance rejected that position, saying, “This is not going to end in a place where the Iranians are collecting tolls on ships going through the Strait of Hormuz.”
The internal Iranian disagreement has reportedly drawn in senior clerics, with hardline religious figures siding with the IRGC’s demand that Tehran use Hormuz as a bargaining chip.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts said the strait should remain closed unless Israel halts its attacks in Lebanon.
The Hormuz dispute comes as the broader US-Iran framework remains fragile. The memorandum signed in June set a 60-day window for talks on a final agreement, including nuclear issues, sanctions relief and regional conflicts. But implementation has been slowed by indirect diplomacy, maritime clashes and competing interpretations of what Iran agreed to do in the strait.
Shipping has partially resumed through Hormuz, but traffic remains politically sensitive after recent attacks and threats disrupted tanker movement. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global oil moved through the strait.
