Senior Iranian Official Warns: 'Strait of Hormuz Will Not Open Unless the US Accepts the Six Conditions'
The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, announced that the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the US accepts Tehran's six conditions. The remarks were made in a statement on Journalists' Day and reported by the Isna news agency. The conditions include ending threats, stopping the war, lifting the naval blockade, withdrawing US forces, paying compensation, and lifting sanctions. Meanwhile, reports emerged of Zolqadr's resignation, and Pezeshkian asked him to stay.
The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, announced that the Strait of Hormuz will not open as long as the US does not accept the six conditions set by Tehran. The remarks were made in a statement he published yesterday (Saturday) on the occasion of Journalists' Day, and were reported by the Iranian news agency Isna. Zolqadr emphasized that the council will not give up on these demands, "whether in war or in negotiations." The six conditions include: correcting US behavior, which includes ending threats against Iran and what he called "insulting the sanctities of the people"; stopping the war against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Yemen, and Iraq; ending the naval blockade on Iran's ports; the withdrawal of US naval and air forces from the area surrounding Iran; full payment of war compensation; and lifting sanctions and releasing frozen assets. Zolqadr claimed that these conditions are the demands of the Iranian people. The position was announced at a time when Iran and Oman described their negotiations on temporary transit routes in the strait as "positive and constructive." Meanwhile, reports were published about Zolqadr's resignation, and the newspaper "Sazandegi" wrote that President Masoud Pezeshkian opposed the resignation and asked him to continue. Pezeshkian did not deny differences of opinion and said: "There are some differences on the agenda, and we are trying to resolve them."