Iran's Top Diplomat Refuses to Directly Engage with U.S. Until Tehran's Demands Are Met

There will be no direct talks between Iran and the U.S. as long as Washington continues to ignore Tehran's demands for solving the Strait of Hormuz dispute, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday. Reuters reports the Islamic state's top diplomat added messages are being exchanged via intermediaries - not directly between the two parties. Araqchi repeated Iran's position that an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz between Tehran and Muscat was in the "final stages" but would not reopen the strategic waterway. Iran's Revolutionary Guards maintain the Strait of Hormuz closure remains "until the enemy accepts all our conditions... the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway". Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a former senior IRGC commander, demanded the United States end military action, vacate all military assets from the region and drop threats against Iran and its regional allies. He also stipulated Washington must lift its naval blockade, compensate Tehran for war damages, lift sanctions, and unconditionally release frozen Iranian assets. "Until America corrects its behavior, the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened," Zolghadr said in a statement carried by Iranian state media.