Iran has not sought talks with US over past two weeks, official says

Iran has not sought negotiations with the United States over the past two weeks and will not relinquish control of the Hormuz Strait, a senior Iranian official said yesterday, hours before the country launched a fresh round of missile attacks against US bases in Jordan. US President Donald Trump had claimed that Iran was “dying for a negotiation,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said. But he painted a very different picture in an interview on Iranian television late Tuesday.

“We have sent no request for negotiation with the US during the past 16–17 days,” he said. Control of the Strait of Hormuz has become a key issue in the conflict between Iran and the United States, which has insisted that freedom of navigation must be restored through the critical waterway, through which more than one-fifth of the world’s oil is normally carried. “If the Strait of Hormuz returns to its previous state, our success in this war is not complete,” Gharibabadi said.

US warships were not allowed to come near the Strait, he said, because demining the sea-lanes was Iran’s responsibility according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed last month. “The Omanis wanted to bring in a country to conduct mine-clearing operations in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz, but we did not allow it.” Gharibabadi asserted. He also suggested that Iran retained the right to charge fees for passage.

The MoU obliged Iran “to provide safe passage for commercial ships, free of charge, for only 60 days,” he said. Negotiations with Oman over a new regime for the Strait have continued through the month, but are yet to resolve the issue. The post Iran has not sought talks with US over past two weeks, official says appeared first on Egypt Independent.