TEHRAN (The Thursday Times) — The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces has set out five conditions for what he called a roadmap to lasting security, including recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, as Qatar said it remained hopeful of a deal that could restart talks with the United States.
Major General Ali Abdollahi’s plan, reported by Iranian media on Tuesday, calls for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon and Gaza; the complete lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of Iranian assets; war reparations; recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the strait; and a guarantee against future attacks under a regional security framework.
Those terms go far beyond anything Washington has publicly accepted, and Qatar said freedom of navigation in Hormuz was non-negotiable.
“If there were no glimmer of hope, there would be no negotiations,” Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said in Doha. He said a Qatari delegation met Iranian officials in Tehran for more than three hours on Monday, and that both sides were reviewing Qatar’s proposal, with mediators passing ideas between them in real time.
He warned that any escalation, whether attacks on Iranian territory or on shipping, would affect the talks, and said that continuing the Qatari-Pakistani mediation remained a priority. He would not speculate on whether a deal or an escalation was more likely.
The statements came on a day of mixed signals. Iran’s Guards said three tankers had hit mines in the strait, hours after US forces struck Qeshm Island. A senior Iranian official has said the two sides remain far from a deal.
