The war that the US and Israel launched against Iran on February 28 is at a deadlock, with the escalation of US sanctions and its naval blockade, and occasional attacks by Tehran on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran said this Sunday that it is still studying the details of the latest proposal made by the United States through Qatar, although it indicated that it has already communicated its preliminary considerations to the Qatari mediators, as part of indirect contacts between Tehran and Washington.
“We will carry out the necessary reviews and also pass on our additional observations to the other side,” said Ismail Bagaei, the spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a press conference.
Bagaei explained that the US offer was conveyed to Iran by the Qatari mediators during a brief stopover in Doha of the Iranian delegation on its return from New York to Tehran last Tuesday.
Without providing details about the US proposal, the spokesman for Iranian diplomacy said that his country’s positions were conveyed to the Qatari mediator during that brief stopover, but that it is still assessing the details.
Bagaei also rejected reports that Tehran had raised with Washington the resumption of inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at Iran’s nuclear plants in exchange for a reduction in economic sanctions.
“We are not entering into a discussion about the nuclear issue in exchange for sanctions. Our task was to communicate our conditions and pass them on to the mediators within the framework of what went on to be known as the seven-day plan,” said the Iranian diplomat.
The spokesman stressed that Iran made clear that its priority at this stage is the Strait of Hormuz and said that its reopening requires “concrete measures” by the United States, including an end to the naval blockade against the Islamic Republic and the lifting of sanctions, among other measures.
Under the seven-day plan, which was rejected by US President Donald Trump, Iran also demands an end to hostilities throughout the Middle East and the release of funds frozen in Tehran.
These measures were laid out in the memorandum of understanding reached between Iran and the US in June through Pakistan’s mediation, which was halted less than a month later by alleged Iranian attacks on vessels and tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and US bombardments in southern Iran.
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, defended diplomatic negotiations today as the only path to end the war and warned the United States that there is no military solution to the conflict.