TEHRAN will not ‘back down’, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said yesterday after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s seven-day roadmap to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Only a ‘negotiated solution’ can end the conflict between the US and Iran, Araghchi insisted.
No one can accuse Iran of not having tried the diplomatic path in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said.
Speaking to Iranian journalists in New York on Saturday, Araghchi explained that the main focus of his and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s meetings on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly was to explain and defend Iran’s conditions for reopening the strategic waterway.
‘Tehran was required to clearly present the conditions set by Iran’s National Security Council and defend the logic behind them,’ he remarked.
Iran presented several proposals during the meetings and through interviews, with the proposals being passed to Washington by intermediaries, Araghchi revealed.
Araghchi said: ‘The outlook is clear for the Iranian people. Our people have demonstrated their power to the world in the military, diplomatic, and economic spheres and in confronting sanctions.
‘There is no way forward other than a negotiated solution based on dignity and justice and ensuring the legitimate rights and demands of the Iranian people.’
The Iranian minister also explained the latest developments concerning the Strait of Hormuz, including an understanding between Iran and Oman on establishing safe shipping routes through the strategic waterway.
The two sides further discussed the need for greater coordination among Muslim countries, including through the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, over the genocide and crimes committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories and elsewhere in the region.
Araghchi acknowledged Trump’s rejection, but said Iran would wait for a ‘definitive’ official US response.
He said the president had made contradictory statements in the past.
Araghchi said the conditions to open the strait were the same that had been included in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran that was signed in June.
Iran said it had raised reopening the strait and ending hostilities during negotiations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The vital waterway through which around a fifth of the world’s gas and oil supply usually flows has been effectively closed since the outbreak of war in February.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said that ‘distrust created by this war needs to be overcome’ in order for talks to be successful.
He said the Iranians are open to talks on implementing the MoU in stages in order to end the impasse, but that the ‘US needs to show it does not intend to overthrow our government’.
Pezeshkian said Trump ‘tore up’ the MoU when the US resumed its bombing campaign, adding: ‘If we don’t abide by what we have written down, can we really resolve it by dialogue?’
He was also asked about Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who was injured in the US strike which killed his father in February and has not been seen in public since. Reports have claimed he suffered serious injuries to his legs and face.
Pezeshkian said he had met the supreme leader on two occasions, insisting he had ‘no specific ongoing health issues or challenges and had been well enough to hold seven hours of talks’.