Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei has laid out Tehran’s latest set of conditions to end its war with the United States. In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, Rezaei said that Tehran has conveyed its conditions to the US via Qatari mediators, but added that Tehran was more battle-hardened now than in the first 40 days of the war, which began in late February following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. While full-scale fighting has been paused for months, the two sides are nowhere close to 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 in effect closed, while the US maintains a blockade of Iran’s southern ports. Escalating attacks on oil tankers attempting to pass through the strait and the effective Houthi control of the Red Sea route, which Saudi Arabia has been using to export oil, have caused oil prices to cross the $100 mark in recent weeks.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, described Rezaei’s remarks as part of the “two-sided, twofold message” Iran has maintained throughout the conflict – combining openness to diplomacy with continued preparations for war. So what are Iran’s latest conditions, and do they differ from the June MoU? Trump’s threats will not achieve any results.
We are prepared for a decisive war,” said the security chief. On Sunday morning, Iran’s parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf reiterated Tehran’s stance on the Strait of Hormuz, saying the critical waterway will remain closed until the US fulfils its commitments. Iran’s latest set of conditions bears similarities to its demands under the MoU deal signed in June.
That agreement also included an end to the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon; respect for each side’s sovereignty and not meddling 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, while the two sides also agreed that Iran would not procure or develop nuclear weapons and that Tehran would open the Strait of Hormuz for the safe passage of vessels. It also required the US to issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil and other services, no new sanctions on Iran, and no deployment of additional US forces in the region.
In the interview, Rezaei did not mention war reparations from the US as Tehran has previously demanded. While there is little genuinely new in the substance of Iranian demands, what has changed is the timing and the channel through which it was delivered, said Adel Abdel Ghafar, a senior fellow focusing on the Middle East at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Both sides are at an impasse, he explained, with the US able to sustain the naval blockade and hold air superiority but unable to compel capitulation from Iran.
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