Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei laid out Tehran's latest conditions to end its war with the United States in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday. He said the conditions were conveyed to Washington via Qatari mediators, adding that Tehran is now more battle-hardened than in the first 40 days of the war, which began in late February following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
"We will confront America with greater force, and with more numerous and more painful strikes," Rezaei said. He added that it is in Washington's interest to accept these conditions, and that Trump's threats will not achieve any results. "We are prepared for a decisive war," the security chief stated.
While full-scale fighting has been paused for months, the two sides are nowhere near peace. A June 17 60-day memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran expired last month. Since then, attacks have risen, especially in and around the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed, while the US maintains a blockade of Iran's southern ports. Escalating attacks on oil tankers and effective Houthi control of the Red Sea route, used by Saudi Arabia for oil exports, have pushed oil prices above $100 in recent weeks.
On Sunday, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf reiterated Tehran's stance on the Strait of Hormuz: "Until these conditions are met, the legitimate rights of the Iranian nation are recognised, and American commitments are fulfilled, there will be no opening for a return to the previous state of negotiations or for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz."
Iran's latest conditions bear similarities to its demands under the June MoU, which included an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon; respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs; an end to the naval blockade by both sides; and the release of Iran's frozen funds. The MoU also called for a $300bn US-backed reconstruction plan, an Iranian commitment not to procure or develop nuclear weapons, and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz for safe passage. It required the US to issue waivers for Iranian crude oil exports, no new sanctions, and no additional US forces in the region.
Adel Abdel Ghafar, a senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that while there is little genuinely new in the substance of Iranian demands, the timing and channel have changed. "With the Islamabad MoU dead and Rezaei delivering the conditions through Qatar, Iran is putting the onus back on Washington and doing it publicly, for maximum effect," he told Al Jazeera. Both sides are at an impasse, he explained: the US can sustain the naval blockade and hold air superiority but cannot compel Iran's capitulation, while Iran cannot break the blockade but "keeps enough asymmetric leverage to make things difficult for everyone." "Basically Iran is betting on the war's unpopularity and that the US midterms will shift things in its favour, so it's going public with demands and putting the ball in Trump's court," he added.
Rezaei rejected the US accusation that Tehran violated the MoU by striking an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, stating that Iran's actions came only after US attacks on Bandar Abbas and an Iranian surveillance platform there. He said any agreement, including the MoU, required recourse to a dispute resolution committee agreed between Ghalibaf and US Vice President JD Vance, which Washington unilaterally withdrew from. On the nuclear programme, Rezaei said Iran could have withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty following attacks by the US and Israel, but has not done so to date, abiding by a fatwa from the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning nuclear weapons. "But we do not know what will happen in the future," he said.
On the intensifying war in Yemen, Rezaei denied any Iranian involvement and offered mediation between the warring sides. He also dismissed speculation that Iran could close the Bab al-Mandeb strait, stating it "is a Yemeni matter" relating to the Houthi movement. On the Strait of Hormuz, Rezaei said Tehran came within "a short step" of announcing a deal with Oman to manage it, but it may require regional endorsement before being made public.
The US has not yet responded to Iran's new conditions. On Saturday, the US warned its citizens in Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Jordan to exercise "heightened vigilance." President Donald Trump cut short his weekend trip to Camp David, returning to Washington on Saturday, with no explanation given. According to Rob Geist Pinfold, a lecturer at King's College London, Trump may take Iran's memo seriously to end the war before the November midterms. However, David Des Roches, a former Pentagon director of Arabian Peninsula affairs, told Al Jazeera that Washington is unlikely to see Iran's terms as a serious opening, as they would be viewed as surrender. Still, he pointed to Iran's apparent abandonment of war reparations as a sign of movement.
Source: www.aljazeera.com