ERBIL () - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared on Sunday that Iran will not back down from the conditions it has presented for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, confirming that while Tehran has seen President Trump's first public response, nothing has yet been formally communicated through the mediators, and that Iran will make its decision based on Washington's final position once it is received.
"Iran will not back down from its conditions,"Araghchi said. "The conditions we presented were conveyed to the American side through the mediators. We saw the first response from the President of the United States, but nothing has yet been communicated to us from the mediators."
Araghchi was pointed in his assessment of Trump's public statements on the matter. "The American President also said contradictory things, which unfortunately we hear quite a bit from him,"he said. "We are waiting for the mediators to convey their final positions to us, and based on them we will make a decision."
The statement directly references Trump's Saturday declaration that Iran wants to reopen Hormuz immediately because it is suffering devastating financial losses, and that while Iran wants a deal and he likes making deals, the current Iranian offer is not acceptable. Trump had also said the US has achieved full control of the strait with 29 ships having transited the previous night, and described the US naval blockade as the largest in military history.
Araghchi's reference to contradictory statements from Trump reflects the whiplash of the American president's public communications on Iran throughout the week, in which Trump expressed openness to meeting Iranian officials at the UNGA, said the war will end soon, described Iran as losing in every way, called the current offer unacceptable, and simultaneously said he likes making deals. Each statement pointed in a subtly different direction, and Araghchi is publicly flagging that ambiguity as an obstacle to Iranian decision-making.
The confirmation that Iran is waiting for mediators to convey Washington's final position places Qatar and Pakistan, the two countries Pezeshkian identified as carrying Iran's messages to the US, at the critical juncture of the negotiation. Iran delivered its seven-day Hormuz reopening proposal, which Araghchi detailed as reopening the strait on day six and starting nuclear talks on day seven in exchange for lifting the blockade, releasing $12 billion in frozen assets, and a regional ceasefire. Washington has received the proposal. Tehran is waiting for a formal response through the same channels the proposal was delivered through.
