TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that diplomatic exchanges continue despite Iranian media reports describing Washington's demands as excessive. Washington and Tehran have been swapping proposals in an effort to end the conflict which the US and Israel launched on February 28, but they have held only a single round of talks despite a fragile ceasefire.
"As we announced yesterday, our concerns were conveyed to the American side," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news briefing, adding that exchanges were "continuing through the Pakistani mediator". Baqaei defended Iran's demands, including the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad and the lifting of long-standing sanctions. "The points raised are Iranian demands that have been firmly defended by the Iranian negotiating team in every round of negotiations," he said. He also defended an Iranian stipulation that the US pay war reparations, describing the conflict as "illegal and baseless".
Strait of Hormuz
On the possibility of another military confrontation, Baqaei said Iran was "fully prepared for any eventuality". On Sunday, Iran's Fars news agency said Washington had presented a five-point list, which included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States.
The US had refused to release "even 25 per cent" of Iran's frozen assets or pay any reparations for war damage, Fars said. The report said the US had also made clear it would only cease hostilities when Tehran engages in formal peace negotiations. Iran's Mehr news agency said "the United States, offering no tangible concessions, wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations".
In an earlier proposal, which was sent last week, Iran had called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Israel's campaign in Lebanon, as well as a halt to a US naval blockade on Iranian ports in place since April 13. It also called for the lifting of all US sanctions on Iran and the release of its assets frozen abroad.
On Monday, Iran's Tasnim news agency, citing an unnamed source close to the Iranian negotiating team, said "contrary to previous texts, the Americans agreed in a new text to waive oil sanctions during the negotiation period." Fars said that the Iranian proposal had emphasised that Tehran would continue to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit which Iran has largely kept closed since the start of the war. On Monday, Iran's Supreme National Security Council announced the formation of a new body to manage the strait.
Separately on Monday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said their forces had struck groups linked to the United States and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq. In a statement carried by the ISNA news agency, the Guards said groups from "northern Iraq and acting on behalf of the US and the Zionist regime were attempting to smuggle a large shipment of American weapons and ammunition" into Iran. They said the groups were hit in the Iranian city of Baneh in the Kurdistan region.
Limited Nuclear Activities
The United States has shown flexibility on allowing Iran to maintain limited peaceful nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a senior Iranian source said on Monday. The source said that on the issue of Iran's frozen assets, however, Washington has so far only agreed to free one quarter of those assets according to a phased timetable. Iran wants the US to reconsider both positions, the source said.
In its new proposal, the source said, Iran has again focused on securing an end to the war, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and lifting maritime sanctions. The more contentious issues around Iran's nuclear programme and uranium enrichment, which remain the most difficult parts of the negotiations, have been deferred to later rounds of talks.
Meanwhile, oil prices turned lower in afternoon trading on Monday and stock markets advanced after an Iranian media report said US officials had agreed to suspend sanctions against its crude while talks on ending the war continue. The conflict has led to an effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 per cent of global oil exports pass in peacetime, and sent oil prices soaring. — Agencies
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