Iran says conditions to re-engage in talks, end war sent to US via Qatar — SkimNews
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- Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told Al Jazeera that Iran has conveyed three formal conditions to Washington via Qatar: an end to the war on all fronts, release of Iran's frozen funds, and an end to the naval blockade.
- Qatar and Pakistan have been working to re-establish negotiations since the Iran-US memorandum of understanding expired last month, with Rezaei saying Tehran is awaiting President Trump's response to the terms.
- Iran has shifted its military planning to focus on US naval assets from the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and recently test-fired a multi-warhead antiship missile near a US vessel or aircraft carrier, according to Rezaei.
- Former Pentagon Arabian Peninsula affairs director David Des Roches told Al Jazeera Washington would likely view the remaining terms as 'surrender,' but pointed to Iran's quiet abandonment of an earlier demand for war reparations as a sign of movement.
- Rezaei did not rule out a new US strike, calling it 'very much on the cards' based on Iran's military assessments, and warned any future Iranian response would target US bases, commercial interests, and companies operating in the region.
- On the nuclear file, Rezaei said Iran has not decided to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and continues to honor Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa prohibiting nuclear weapons, though further sanctions or a UN Security Council referral could change that calculus.
- Rezaei dismissed speculation Iran could close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to pressure energy markets, calling it 'a Yemeni matter,' and said a near-final Hormuz agreement with Oman remains ready pending regional endorsement.
Why it matters: Qatar now holds the hinge between continued war and any deal — Rezaei publicly named the three terms, putting the mediator's leverage in plain view. Iran simultaneously test-fired a multi-warhead antiship missile and reoriented its military planning toward US naval targets across the Gulf to the Arabian Sea, so a collapse at the negotiating table now carries a new maritime-strike posture that was not in place during earlier rounds.
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