Tehran, Oct 18 (IANS) Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Tehran’s proposed seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is “still on the table.”
Araghchi made the remarks in an interview with Iran’s official news agency IRNA on the sidelines of the 52nd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
He said Iran’s conditions for ceasing hostilities and reopening the strait were “completely clear” and had been submitted to the United States under the seven-day plan, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Washington has presented its views on the plan, which Tehran is reviewing, he added.
“Iran’s plan is still on the table,” Araghchi said. “If they (the United States) meet those conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened on the sixth day, and negotiations will resume on the seventh.”
He said that Iran’s conditions were neither extraordinary nor unusual, adding that they were the same commitments “the United States had already committed itself in the peace memorandum of understanding (MoU) and other negotiations.”
Araghchi emphasised that Iran will not bow to threats and is prepared to defend itself, while remaining ready to pursue diplomacy.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has declared that Iran’s nuclear weapons capability has been destroyed by American military operations and vowed that Tehran would never be allowed to rebuild it, presenting the campaign against the Islamic Republic as one of the major national security achievements of his second presidency.
Addressing a Republican election rally at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena on Saturday, Trump defended his decision to launch military operations against Iran, saying the threat of a nuclear-armed Tehran had made American intervention necessary.
“They cannot have a nuclear weapon. They can’t because they’ll use it,” Trump told supporters while discussing the military campaign.
The President said the United States had successfully struck Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and was taking steps to ensure that the programme could not be revived.
“We have to make sure it doesn’t come back,” he said, recalling his instructions to senior administration officials during the operation.
–IANS
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