Rezaei says US given 4-5 days to meet Iran’s conditions
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in an interview with state television that Tehran had given the United States four to five days to meet its conditions, linking any further negotiations and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to Washington’s response.
“We have given the Americans four to five days to comply with Iran’s conditions,” Rezaei said.
“Until Iran’s conditions are accepted, there will be no negotiations and the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened,” he added.
Rezaei said Tehran had already communicated its conditions to mediators and that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected to convey them again through intermediaries during the UN gathering in New York.
“It was decided that the conditions we told the mediators would also be conveyed at the United Nations,” he said. “It was decided that Mr. Araghchi would convey these conditions at the United Nations through the mediators.”
Rezaei said there had been no change to the conditions and described Tehran’s current diplomatic approach as different from its previous policy.
“We are not going back to the diplomacy of the past,” he said. “The diplomacy we have started is completely different from the past.”
“We will make America win the trust of the Iranian people. Talk and negotiations are enough. That is why the Americans must first accept the conditions,” he said.
Rezaei also described the Strait of Hormuz as leverage for Tehran. “The Strait of Hormuz is our dignity. The Strait of Hormuz is our power. The Strait of Hormuz is the Iranian people’s tool for obtaining their rights,” he said.
He warned neighboring countries against taking part in any possible new US military action against Iran.
“I am telling neighboring countries from now: do not enter this adventure,” Rezaei said.