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Speaker says Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until conditions are met
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met.
Iran presented a proposal during the UN General Assembly under which the Strait of Hormuz waterway could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the conditions were met, with the US replying to this proposal last week via Qatari intermediaries.
“The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm, and the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until our seven conditions, based on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, are met,” Qalibaf, who is Iran’s top negotiator, said during an address to the parliament.
“The Americans, who speak one way in the media, have recently been submitting proposals through mediators. But they must understand that the era of dragging out the (diplomatic) process and dictating one-sided demands is over,” he stated.
Outlining Iran’s dual-track approach to the ongoing US-Israeli war of aggression, Qalibaf affirmed that the nation operates on a strategy of “authority and rationality,” ensuring it is neither overly excited by diplomatic maneuvers nor intimidated by military threats.
“We fight, and we negotiate,” he said. “We are present with full power in the military battlefield and will confront the enemy with new surprises. Simultaneously, we use the tool of diplomacy to consolidate our military superiority and impose the rights of the Iranian nation.”
The strategically vital waterway was largely closed during the war on Iran, severely disrupting regional maritime traffic and placing further pressure on energy shipments.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Sunday that Tehran had clarified its broad positions via mediators to the US response but that additional points remained to be communicated to Washington.
“The Americans’ propositions are more or less in line with their previous positions, specifically on the nuclear issue. We told them our focus in this stage is the issue of the Strait of Hormuz and the return to security in this waterway requires clear steps from the US,” Baqaei said.
He also denied Tehran had offered UN nuclear watchdog inspections of its nuclear facilities in exchange for US sanctions relief, saying Iran had not entered into nuclear discussions with Washington.
The document being circulated outlines a seven-day period of trust-building aimed at returning the two sides to an enhanced version of the memorandum of understanding agreed in June, including concrete steps on Iran’s nuclear program, an official briefed on the talks said last week, according to Reuters.
The disagreement centers on the sequencing of the steps rather than the components of the plan, the official added.