Iran on Tuesday (10) urged the United States to meet its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz after President Donald Trump said there was “positive momentum” toward ending their eight-month war.
Qatar and Pakistan are leading diplomatic efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict, which began with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in late February.
Tehran has said it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy conduit it has blockaded since the conflict began, within two days if Washington meets a series of conditions.
“The conflict with Iran will not be resolved through military means, nor by intensifying sanctions,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iran’s IRNA news agency.
“The only solution is to adopt a language of respect, engage in diplomacy, and address Iran’s demands and conditions — which were outlined in the two-day proposal and remain on the table.”
Iran’s conditions include ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending the US counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump said on Monday (9) there was momentum toward ending the conflict after meeting Qatar’s prime minister at the White House.
Washington has appeared in recent days to scale back threats of renewed strikes on the Islamic republic after Trump’s Republican Party lost last week’s midterm elections, partly due to the war.
In a social media post, Trump reiterated that the United States was “locked and loaded” but said further strikes were “quite unlikely”, given that key US allies in the Gulf “would prefer the status quo”.
“We are seeing positive momentum toward an end to this Conflict, and will ensure that America’s interests are at all times protected,” Trump wrote.
Qatari foreign ministry official Ibrahim Al-Hashmi confirmed there had been “progress” in the negotiations.
“The mediator is making a persistent and earnest effort to bridge the gaps between the parties’ positions,” he told a regular briefing, adding: “We remain hopeful.”
Iranian political analyst Ali Bigdeli said the outcome of the US elections appeared to have “somewhat reduced Iran’s flexibility, whereas the Americans have become more flexible”.
He said Iran’s demands were “demanding and heavy for the United States to accept” but added that “engaging in direct talks” could produce results.
“The two nations have reached such a deep state of mutual distrust and uncertainty that the situation has become extremely difficult,” said Bigdeli, a professor of political science at Shahid Beheshti University.
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei urged Washington to “surrender” to Tehran’s demands.
“The war on Iran has already wrecked the US government. But Washington flails like a desperate gambler. FOLD YOUR HAND. STOP manufacturing FAKE NEWS about imaginary talks,” Rezaei, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in a post on X.
The possibility of renewed fighting has alarmed Iran’s Gulf neighbors, which bore the brunt of Tehran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks.
On Monday (9), Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the United Arab Emirates’ president, said the UAE hoped diplomatic solutions “can ensure lasting peace and stability in the Gulf”.
But Gargash also warned of “a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor a stable regional order can be taken for granted”.
In Saudi Arabia, multiple explosions were heard in the capital, Riyadh, as the coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said it had intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the group.
The kingdom has faced near-daily Houthi strikes for weeks after a truce in their long-running conflict broke down in July, opening a new front in the wider Middle East war.
On Sunday (8), Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the mission in Iran was still “not complete” and warned Tehran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah against resuming hostilities.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fighting to remain in office after a tight election race, has threatened fresh strikes against Iran. However, it remains unclear whether Trump would support him following his party’s midterm election defeat.
