Iran conditions reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on compliance with seven demands

The Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened until the seven Iranian conditions set out in an interim agreement signed in June with the United States (USA) are met, state media reported, citing statements by the President of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, this Sunday (4).

Iran presented a proposal during the UN General Assembly that the Strait of Hormuz waterway could be reopened and normal sea passage restored within seven days if conditions were met. The US responded to this proposal last week through Qatari intermediaries.

“The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm, and the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened until our seven conditions, based on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, are met,” Qalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator, was quoted as saying.

He stated that Washington “needs to understand that the period of prolonging the (diplomatic) process and imposing unilateral demands has come to an end.”

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said today that Tehran had clarified its general positions, through mediators, in response to the US, but that there were still additional points to be communicated to Washington.

"The Americans' proposals are more or less in line with their previous positions, specifically on the nuclear issue. We told them that our focus at this stage is the issue of the Strait of Hormuz and that the return to security in this waterway requires clear measures on the part of the US," said spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei.

He also denied that Tehran had offered the UN nuclear agency inspections of its nuclear facilities in exchange for US sanctions relief, saying Iran had not started nuclear negotiations with Washington.

The document being circulated outlines a seven-day period for confidence-building, with the aim of bringing the two sides back to an improved version of the memorandum of understanding agreed in June, including concrete steps on Iran's nuclear program, an official familiar with the negotiations said last week.

The disagreement revolves around the sequence of measures, not the components of the plan, the official added.

Qatar has been relaying messages between Washington and Tehran in an effort to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war that began in late February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.