Ghalibaf: Iran will “fight and negotiate” — Hormuz will not open until the U.S. meets seven conditions

Iran will “fight and negotiate” simultaneously with the United States, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared today, making clear that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until Washington meets Tehran’s seven conditions, as Al Jazeera reports.

Ghalibaf, who is also the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said Washington has made “several proposals through an intermediary”, after Tehran presented its seven-day plan for reopening the strategic strait. But he stressed that Iran is neither “elated” nor “frightened” by the American actions. “We are present on the military battlefield with all our strength and will confront them with new surprises, and we also use the tools of diplomacy to establish our superiority on the military field and to impose the rights of the Iranian people,” he added.

“The Strait of Hormuz will not open until our seven conditions are met, based on the Islamabad Memorandum,” Ghalibaf declared, adding that the U.S. should know that “the era of wasting time and dictating one-sided demands is over” and that Iran’s position remains “clear and firm”.

Tehran’s conditions, conveyed last month through Qatari intermediaries, include an end to the war on all fronts, the release of frozen Iranian funds, an end to the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, an end to U.S. interference in Iran’s internal affairs, an end to American cooperation with Iran’s enemies, and an end to all American attacks on Iranian territory.

Ghalibaf’s statements come as U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the war could end “very soon, perhaps immediately after the elections”, and as the Pentagon confirmed on Friday that it is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group toward the waters around Iran — a move Tehran reads as military pressure in parallel with diplomacy.