Iran says no Hormuz deal until US ends naval blockade, as Baghaei puts “ball in America’s court”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that no agreement can begin and the Strait of Hormuz cannot be reopened or secured unless the United States ends its naval blockade and meets Iran’s demands, while insisting Tehran’s seven-point plan could be implemented within two days if those conditions are met.
Iran has set out its clearest public condition yet for any deal to restore security in the Strait of Hormuz, telling Washington that the waterway cannot be reopened or secured until the United States ends its naval blockade and meets Tehran’s demands. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei delivered the message at a press briefing in Tehran on Monday, saying the responsibility for moving negotiations forward now rests entirely with the United States.
“The ball is in America’s court; because our demands have been stated very clearly and transparently, and Iran’s demands are reasonable and logical,” Baghaei said, according to Gulf News and UrduPoint’s reporting of the briefing. “No final agreement can be initiated and the Strait of Hormuz cannot be opened or secured unless the US naval blockade is ended, Iran’s demands are met, and Iran’s legitimate demands are implemented. After that, we can discuss the continuation of the process.”
Baghaei said Tehran was judging Washington by concrete performance rather than by tone or rhetorical style, and that messages were still being exchanged through regional mediators. He referred to a recent diplomatic letter from US Vice President JD Vance to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and said Iran had officially conveyed its conditions to the United States through the Qatar-mediated talks in Doha.
At the heart of the Iranian position is a seven-point proposal that Baghaei said remained the basis for diplomacy. Tehran had earlier presented the plan as a seven-day diplomatic proposal; Baghaei said it had now been condensed and could be implemented within two days if Washington agreed to its conditions. Reporting by India TV added that the Qatari mediators had proposed shortening the implementation period, first to five days and then to two, as the talks in Doha progressed.
The conditions themselves go well beyond the waterway. In an interview aired by Al Jazeera on Sunday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran’s conditions included lifting the sanctions imposed following the Islamabad memorandum, reducing US forces in the region, restoring oil waivers and releasing all of Iran’s frozen funds, including those held in Qatar. Baghaei echoed that framing on Monday, warning that Washington could not expect Tehran to maintain security in the Strait while continuing what he described as naval and economic pressure on the country.
The briefing came a day after Iranian negotiators left Doha, following three days of Qatar-mediated talks aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran that began with strikes on 28 February. An official briefed on those talks told Reuters that the delegation’s departure was not caused by difficulties in the discussions, that a draft proposal was being circulated for feedback, and that a follow-up meeting was possible. Baghaei’s statement is therefore best read not as a breakdown of the talks, but as Tehran publicly fixing the price of the next step while it waits for Washington’s answer.
Baghaei also sought to reassure Iran’s Gulf neighbours, saying Tehran had no hostility towards regional countries and supported cooperation to achieve lasting security. At the same time, he warned that Gulf states should not allow their territory or military facilities to be used for operations against Iran — a message aimed squarely at countries hosting US forces, as ministers at Bahrain’s Manama Dialogue warned over the weekend that a second round of US strikes could be more dangerous than the first.
Washington has so far kept its options open. President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday that talks with Iran were “going fine” and that he was “not in much of a hurry”, while also saying the United States could still hit a suspected underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain in “10 minutes”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Trump has not decided whether to order new strikes and prefers a diplomatic outcome. US Central Command, meanwhile, has sharply rejected Iranian claims that Tehran has not targeted civilians, accusing Iran of deliberately striking civilian infrastructure and killing more than 20 mariners in recent months.
The timing sharpens the stakes. The United States holds its midterm elections on Tuesday, and Israel is on its highest state of military alert amid fears of a surprise Iranian attack. Israeli officials have said they are preparing in case fighting resumes immediately after the vote, while Trump has said he prefers to give talks more time. Against that backdrop, Baghaei’s two-day timetable reads as both an offer and a deadline: a workable plan, Tehran says, is ready — but only on its terms.
What happens next depends on the answer from Washington, which has not yet publicly responded to Baghaei’s specific formulation. If the United States accepts the conditions, Tehran claims security in the Strait could be restored within two days, easing pressure on global oil shipments and Gulf shipping. If Washington rejects them, or waits until after the midterms, the risk remains that the fragile pause gives way to renewed strikes — the outcome Gulf governments, shipping firms and energy markets are all bracing for.
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