Gulf States Work on Multipart Peace Plan to Avert Renewed US-Iran War, Talks Focus on Reopening Hormuz

Gulf states are working on a multipronged peace plan to avert a renewal of war between the United States and Iran, which they regard as disastrous. At the heart of the plan is reopening the Strait of Hormuz within four days of sanctions being lifted.

The talks are also aimed at lifting sanctions on Iran and for the Houthis to withdraw substantial forces inside Yemen.

The US is aware of the talks' progress but is holding out for a concession that European powers suggest could involve Iran allowing UN weapons inspectors back into the country.

British foreign secretary Ed Miliband urged Iran to readmit UN weapons inspectors when he met Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in New York, but Iran has so far refused, saying it will only hold talks in principle on its nuclear programme.

European diplomats believe allowing weapons inspectors to re-enter Iran and visit its bombed nuclear sites is a minimum requirement for a breakthrough with US president Donald Trump.

Dr Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran's national security council, said Iran was willing to reduce its proposal that the strait reopen seven days after economic sanctions are lifted to four days. Iran remains focused on the guarantees of sanctions relief it would receive in return for reopening Hormuz.

Iran is also starting to acknowledge a mediating role in the parallel conflict in Yemen. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's supreme national security council, met the Houthis' ambassador to Iran, Ibrahim al-Dulaimi, on Tuesday.

That meeting took place 24 hours after a high-level delegation from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan travelled to Tehran to discuss Saudi terms for ending the Yemen conflict and a longer-term security architecture for the region.

Iran backs the Houthis and has the power to influence them. The Houthis are demanding that Saudi Arabia lift what it regards as a naval and air blockade on Houthi-held territory.

Iran prevented discussion of its nuclear programme at the meeting with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and instead ensured the focus was a broader long-term regional security vision including the Gulf states and Iran, with the US presence in the Middle East reduced or ended.

A new non-aggression pact in which Iran is no longer ostracised by the rest of the Gulf, as it has been since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, would meet Iran's highest strategic goal, the report said.

Oman's foreign minister Badr Albusaidi, a key advocate of the inclusive security plan, said he believed the US administration understood this was the direction the region is heading. He said if Iran is fully re-engaged in the idea of eight countries at peace, the economic potential will be enormous for all in the region and those outside who take part.

At a televised event in Iran this week, Araghchi underlined the importance of a new postwar security pact, saying there has been talk of a new war but he is already thinking about the postwar period, and that whether there is war or not, Iran's policies remain the same.