A top Iranian national security official drew up a list of demands for U.S. officials to meet ahead of any peace deal on the Strait of Hormuz, throwing this week’s peace negotiations into flux.
Iranian National Security Council Secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr released the statement with six demands through Iran’s state media, saying “until America corrects its behavior, the Strait of Hormuz will not open.” The Saturday statement comes one day after President Donald Trump announced from the Oval Office that he was involved in the peace talks over the strait, that the negotiations were going “very well,” and that a deal could be inked soon.
In his list of demands, Zolghadr demanded the U.S. not threaten Iran; end hostilities with Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq; terminate its naval blockade and remove all military forces around Iran; pay damages for the war and lift sanctions on the regime; and unfreeze Iranian assets.
The demands are likely to throw a wrench into negotiations between Iran and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to the free flow of commerce. Zolghadr is now hinging its agreement with Oman over the strait on the U.S.’s response to its demands.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the White House for comment on Zolghadr’s statement.
Both U.S. sanctions against Iran and Iran’s frozen assets were addressed in the June memorandum of understanding, with full sanction relief being dependent on a full, final peace agreement between the two countries. According to the New York Times, U.S. officials have previously hinged the possibility of unfrozen Iranian assets on Tehran giving up all its enriched uranium.
The statement comes as the Trump administration had been projecting a positive outlook on the talks this week.
“I think we’re doing very well,” Trump said on Friday. “I’m involved in the negotiation. I think we’re doing fine. It could be, it could be soon.”
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Vice President JD Vance also addressed the Iran negotiations Saturday morning in an interview on Fox News‘s Saturday in America before Zolghadr’s statement.
“They want this thing to be over,” Vance said of Iran. “The question is whether they’re able, and their system is able, to give the things that are necessary for us to be happy, for us to feel like we’ve gotten what we need out of this particular engagement. That is still to be determined. But I do think we made some progress over the last few days.”