NEW YORK: Iran has submitted a proposal to the United States to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, its foreign minister told media outlets in New York.
“If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days and talks will start,” Abbas Araghchi, who is in the US for the UN General Assembly, told media outlets including the New York Times and The Guardian.
According to Araghchi, as quoted by the New York Times, the latest plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East for seven days, including in Lebanon.
It also calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets estimated to be worth at least $12 billion, as well as the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade of Iran.
Araghchi said he was waiting for a US response to the plan and maintained that China supported the proposal.
The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that aimed to end the war, reopen the strait and launch talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
But the deal broke down shortly afterwards when Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its approved route through the waterway.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemeni Ansar Allah fighters in a rare show of unity from the UN’s top body.
The Ansar Allah have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers, seizing swathes of Yemen’s Red Sea coast vital for oil exports and causing energy prices to jump, while also raining missiles on the kingdom.
“The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Ansar Allah attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children,” said the rotating president of the council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan military chiefs of staff held talks to support the kingdom as Ansar Allah ramp up attacks on the world’s top crude exporter, Ankara said on Friday.
The US has shifted to tightening economic pressure through secondary sanctions on foreign companies that do business with Iranian firms.
Iranian airlines were barred from neighbouring countries, including the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday in response to new US sanctions, marking the first major impact of the move.
On Friday, the three other Iraqi airports that operate flights to and from Iran joined Baghdad airport in suspending them, sources and state media said. — Agencies
