There are no ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, after Tehran set out a steep series of demands for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.“The intermediaries are still making efforts to find ways to resume negotiations,” Araghchi said.He tempered optimism stirred by Iran’s separate discussions with Oman over the future management of the waterway, saying that “changes to maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz are a technical and legal matter and do not mean that the Strait of Hormuz has been reopened.”Araghchi’s statement came a day after top Iranian security official Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr laid out the country’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, saying it would not do so “until America corrects its behavior.”The Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary’s statement, as carried out by Iranian state media, stated that the U.S.
must withdraw its naval blockade, pay Iran damages for the war, unfreeze Iranian assets, lift sanctions on Tehran and permanently end the conflict against Iran and its regional allies.The U.S.is yet to respond publicly to the list of conditions.
Top officials have previously ruled out making any immediate payments to Iran during past efforts to seal a deal to end the war.The country’s enriched uranium stockpile has also been a sticking thorn for Washington, which insists Iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions.The stalled negotiations have left the Strait of Hormuz largely inoperational for months, save for brief periods of operation.
Thousands of sailors remain stranded in the region, unable to return home or keep the world’s supply of oil flowing.“What we’re really working through now is how you can actually set up a traffic scheme so that the ships that pass can pass through safely,” Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on Saturday.
That scheme, Vance said, would include demining efforts and also assurances from Te...