Iran offers to open Strait of Hormuz on several conditions

Iran offered to open the Strait of Hormuz on several conditions during negotiations, as President Trump has warned he is open to authorizing major combat operations against Tehran after the November midterm elections.

Iranian officials are demanding that the U.S. government lift sanctions and release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets — requests that Washington is unlikely to accept as diplomatic talks in the Middle East continue.

“If Iran’s legitimate demands are accepted and implemented, it would be possible to put the entire plan into operation within two days, restore security to the Strait of Hormuz and initiate the negotiation process,” Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told reporters on Monday, according to multiple outlets .

“⁠The realization of this depends entirely on Washington’s will and decision,” Baghaei said.

Iran effectively closed down the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 percent of the world’s oil transits daily, following the U.S. and Israeli military strikes against Tehran in late February, a closure that has ratcheted up energy prices.

The conditions are not significantly different from Iran’s position throughout the conflict, but they come as Trump has signaled increased openness to greenlighting strikes.

“The only reason why I’m not finished with Iran is I want to be nice. I want to try and save all those lives if I can,” the president said Saturday at a rally in Iowa. “But at some point we’re going to have to give them the hammer.”

Baghaei’s remarks come days after an Iranian delegation traveled to Doha as part of an effort by mediators, led by Qatar, to revive talks in hopes of staving off another cycle of military conflict.

Vice President Vance sent a letter to Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei via Qatari mediators last week to revive peace negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a recent interview that it was a “positive step.”

“If Washington’s goal in sending this letter is to stir up discord, it would be yet another mistake to add to its previous ones,” Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Saturday.