ISTANBUL, Oct 22 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz or return to negotiations until seven new conditions presented through intermediaries are met, Anadolu Ajansi reported, citing Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
“We will not return to the diplomacy of the past, yet we are not abandoning diplomacy altogether,” Rezaei said in a statement carried by ISNA news agency, adding that Tehran was “no longer interested in agreements whose only guarantee was political good faith.”
He said Iran’s preference was “de-escalation,” but “the longer the US prolonged the war, the stronger Iran would become, although this was not what Tehran wanted.”
Rezaei also warned that if the war resumed, Iran would use new capabilities to target US assets in the region, including cables and artificial intelligence facilities.
He acknowledged that Iran would suffer from a prolonged blockade, saying “anyone who claimed otherwise was being unrealistic.”
Iran, he added, targeted “five vessels belonging to smugglers every night over the past two to three months.”
The US and Israel launched war against Iran on Feb 28, prompting Tehran to respond with missile and drone attacks in the region and effectively close the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy supplies.
A memorandum of understanding, signed in June to pave the way for a final US-Iran peace deal, collapsed amid disagreements over navigation in the strait.
-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
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