TEHRAN (The Thursday Times) — Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until the United States meets its seven conditions for peace talks, the country’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday, dismissing reports of negotiations with Washington as “a pure lie”.
Speaking to a Lebanese television channel, Rezaei said claims “about continuing negotiations or holding a meeting in Qatar” were false, and accused Washington of talking up diplomacy to ease economic pressure and bring down oil prices. “Their initial response was insufficient and deceptive, and we are still waiting for an explicit and clear response,” he said.
Iran has not published the full list of conditions. Rezaei and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have said it includes lifting sanctions and the US naval blockade, and ending the fighting on all fronts, especially Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Araghchi has said the strait could reopen within two days if the demands are met. “The conflict with Iran will not be resolved through military means, nor by intensifying sanctions,” he said on Tuesday.
Washington says the pressure is working
Rezaei spoke a day after President Donald Trump met Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, at the White House and said he saw “positive momentum” towards ending the war, adding that new attacks on Iran were unnecessary. Sheikh Mohammed then went to Paris, where G7 foreign ministers were meeting, for talks on the crisis with the Saudi foreign minister and four European counterparts.
In Paris, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was “open to diplomacy”. “The economic campaign is so devastating that right now there is no need for major combat operations,” he said. “That’s what I told our allies here today.”
Mines in the strait
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said three oil tankers caught fire on Tuesday after hitting naval mines while using an “unauthorised route” in the eastern part of the strait. Maritime monitors have counted at least 37 attacks on ships in and near the strait so far this month, the most in any month since the war began on February 28. On the same day, a vessel operated by ADNOC was damaged in an attack inside UAE waters.
