Iran says it has conveyed its concerns over latest US peace proposal

TEHRAN – Iran said on May 18 it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that exchanges were continuing despite Iranian media reports describing Washington’s demands as excessive.

Washington and Tehran have been swopping proposals in an effort to end the conflict that broke out on Feb 28. The two sides have held a single round of talks so far amid a fragile ceasefire in place since April 8.

“As we announced yesterday, our concerns were conveyed to the American side,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said during a news briefing, adding that exchanges were “continuing through the Pakistani mediator”, without providing details.

Mr Baghaei defended Iran’s demands, including the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad and the lifting of longstanding sanctions.

“The points raised are Iranian demands that have been firmly defended by the Iranian negotiating team in every round of negotiations,” he said.

He also defended an Iranian stipulation that the US pay war reparations, describing the conflict as “illegal and baseless”.

On the possibility of another military confrontation, Mr Baghaei said Iran was “fully prepared for any eventuality”.

On May 17, Iran’s Fars news agency said Washington presented a five-point list that included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States.

The US refused to release “even 25 per cent” of Iran’s frozen assets or pay any reparations for war damage, according to Fars.

The report said the US had also made clear it would cease hostilities only when Tehran engages in formal peace negotiations.

Iran’s Mehr news agency said “the United States, offering no tangible concessions, wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations”.

In an earlier proposal, which was sent last week, Iran called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, as well as a halt to a US naval blockade on Iranian ports in place since April 13.

It also called for the lifting of all US sanctions on Iran and the release of its assets frozen abroad.

On May 18, Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing an unnamed source close to the Iranian negotiating team, said “contrary to previous texts, the Americans agreed in a new text to waive oil sanctions during the negotiation period”.

Fars said the Iranian proposal emphasised that Tehran would continue to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit which Iran has largely kept closed since the start of the war.

On May 18, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced the formation of a new body to manage the strait.

On its official X account, the Supreme National Security Council shared a post for the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), saying it would provide “real‑time updates on the #Hormuz_Strait operations and latest developments”.

The PGSA account later said in a post that it was “the legal and official representative authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran responsible for managing transit through the Strait of Hormuz”.

It added that “navigation within the designated jurisdictional area of the Strait of Hormuz” required “full coordination” with the authority, and that passage without authorisation would be considered illegal.

Earlier in May, Iranian English-speaking broadcaster Press TV said it constituted a “system to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz”, and that ships passing through the strait were to be sent instructions by e-mail.

Separately on May 18, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their forces had struck groups linked to the United States and Israel in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, near the border with Iraq.

In a statement carried by the ISNA news agency, the Guards said groups from “northern Iraq and acting on behalf of the US and the Zionist regime were attempting to smuggle a large shipment of American weapons and ammunition” into Iran.

They said the groups were hit in the Iranian city of Baneh in the Kurdistan region. AFP