TEHRAN: Iran threatened on Tuesday to attack infrastructure around the Middle East, intensifying its rhetoric as it awaits a formal response from Washington on a new plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump has already dismissed the proposal from Tehran, but Iran's foreign minister said Monday that he was expecting a formal response from American officials within a day. Fighting has subsided in recent weeks, though Tehran has continued to target ships in the strait, with Washington falling back on an economic pressure campaign instead of further military action.
Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Tuesday threatened new attacks, saying no infrastructure in the region would be safe if his country's security was not guaranteed. "In a region where we cannot sell oil, no one else will sell oil either; or if our security is not guaranteed, no infrastructure will remain safe," Ghalibaf, who is also Iran's parliament speaker, said according to a video released by state TV.
Iran has maintained a blockade on commercial shipping through Hormuz since the war began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic. The shipping route carried a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas before the conflict began. The US military has been maintaining a counterblockade of Iran's ports in an effort to prevent Tehran from exporting oil.
Speaking about prospects for reopening the Hormuz, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said late Monday that Qatari intermediaries "presented ideas, and we discussed them; they are set to raise the matter with the American side once more, after which the final US response will be conveyed to us". The top diplomat, who was in New York for the UN General Assembly, said "the Qataris hope this will be done by tomorrow".
"The current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz, and the reopening of the strait is contingent upon the fulfilment of certain conditions that we have communicated to the other side," he added. Last week, discussions were held in New York between Araghchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. On Tuesday, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said there had been "several meetings and messages have been exchanged, including some in New York and earlier".
"Current efforts are focused on building common ground between the parties." As a precondition for ending its blockade, Iran is demanding a seven-day ceasefire across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah is regularly bombed by Israel. Iran is also demanding the unfreezing of its assets abroad, the lifting of sanctions on its oil sector and an end to the US naval blockade on its ports.
Both sides claim to have control of Hormuz, with the US saying oil is moving through and Tehran insisting the waterway is closed. On Tuesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the country's military, said "the US claim that it remains open is false". "Sneaking a few hundred barrels of oil through under the cover of darkness -- with transponders turned off and at great cost -- does not constitute the strait being open," said spokesperson Hossein Mohebi.
"A truly open strait is one where, as in the past, at least 125 vessels would pass through daily, transporting a minimum of 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum products. "Any vessel attempting to pass through sustains damage -- either we strike it, or it hits a mine," he added. Tehran's stranglehold on Hormuz has been a severe blow to Gulf states, which have also come under Iranian fire.
Al Ansari on Tuesday said Iranian authorities "need to take a decision to distance our countries from this war and to take a very clear position of non-aggression towards their neighbors". US President Donald Trump said he has offered Iran nothing to end the war, rejecting media reports that cited US officials saying he was willing to ease sanctions and release frozen funds for "concrete" steps regarding Iran's nuclear programme.
I offered them NOTHING," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. Axios and CNN both reported, citing unidentified US officials, that Trump was willing to give Iran sanctions relief and free Iranian funds as part of a final deal on the condition that Iran showed "concrete progress" on the nuclear issue. Trump has cited preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb as a key goal of the war, along with ending its ability to attack its neighbours and creating conditions for Iranians to topple their leadership.
Iran does not have nuclear weapons and denies it wants to develop them, but argues it has the right to a domestic nuclear energy capacity. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with the CBS show "Face the Nation", said Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear programme and other issues, but would not accept "bullying or coercion". "Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks," Pezeshkian said, adding that it had already agreed that "we're not supposed to develop nuclear weapons".
The United States has sanctioned 10 individuals and entities including some based in China, Hong Kong and Pakistan, for helping Iran's Ministry of Defence procure weapons and components, the US Treasury Department said Tuesday. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi official media reported, months after the two countries fell out over Yemen.