Tehran (TIP): Iran is awaiting an official US response to its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the wider war in West Asia, though Tehran has made it clear that it would make no concessions on its nuclear program.
From the US side, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump had rejected the deal sent by Iran. Trump has vowed that Tehran will never acquire a nuclear bomb, even as a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday that Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear program.
Iran raised the diplomatic initiative at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators and could reopen the strategic waterway and put an end to hostilities in the region within seven days.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters at the United Nations on Friday that the deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a pause in regional fighting.
“If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared,” Araghchi said.
If the US were to agree, the warring parties could start wider talks “on mutually agreed subjects,” Araghchi said.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the United States accepts its peace deal.
Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out ?of the country, the official said.
The Iranians also engaged their Saudi rivals regarding the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the stakes of a seven-month-old conflict that has disrupted oil flows through one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes and taken a toll on the global economy.
Iran had put forward a plan that could halt hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon. Abbas Araghchi said the plan in turn would require the United States to lift its blockade on Iranian ports, release Iran’s frozen funds, and waive its oil sanctions.
A US official had previously called discussions through mediators “positive and constructive.”
But according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Trump was privately sceptical that Iran would meet his demands, and he told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely, potentially after the November midterms.
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