I question whether stropping straightens "teeth" on an edge, and favor the theory that it actually cleans off corruption and then does remove a small amount of metal and sharpens. But, let's say that an edge does have misaligned "teeth" and stropping does straighten them. That is sharpening.

No matter how you cut it -and I think it is obvious from many conversations on this topic, that we can't be dogmatic - stropping does produce an edge that experientially does seem sharper.