Iran wants guarantees of non-aggression from US

Tehran: Iran wants guarantees of non-aggression and the withdrawal of US military forces from the areas surrounding it in its response to the United States’ nine-point proposal, local media reported on Sunday.

Iran has delivered a response to the United States’ nine-point proposal, focusing on the issue of an “end to the war”, reported the semi-official news agency, Tasnim.

In its nine-point proposal, the US had sought a two-month ceasefire, but Iran wanted the issues to be resolved in 30 days, and the focus should be on “ending the war” and not on extending the ceasefire.

The proposal Iran submitted to the US has 14 points, which include lifting the naval blockade, release of Iran’s frozen assets, payment of compensation, removal of sanctions, and ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.

It also proposed a new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz, along with guarantees of non-aggression and the withdrawal of US military forces from the areas surrounding Iran

Iran is currently awaiting an official US response to the proposals, according to the report.

On Saturday, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Nikzad, announced that a new bill with 12 point plan is being finalized to change the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

Based on the plan, the ships of the “Zionist” regime will never be allowed through the Strait of Hormuz, and warring countries have to pay the damages of war in order to receive a permit to pass, he said, Tasnim reported.

Ships need to receive a licence and permission from Iran to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, it added.

Nikzad said that “this law will be passed in accordance with international laws and the rights of our neighbours, but what is certain is that we will not violate our legitimate rights in the Strait of Hormuz, and the traffic of vessels in this waterway will never be the same as before the Third Imposed War”, the report highlighted.

He added that the new management of the strait is as important as the nationalisation of the oil industry in Iran and called it a “strategic turning point in exercising national sovereignty over one of the world’s most important waterways.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) posted on Sunday that “there is only one way to read this: Trump must choose between ‘an impossible military operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran”.” It also added that “the room for US decision-making has narrowed.”

IANS