Hormuz will 'never return' to pre-war status, Iran's Ghalibaf says

The Strait of Hormuz will “never return” to its status prior to the US-Israel war on Iran, the country's parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has told Al Jazeera. The exclusive interview was published on Wednesday.

Ghalibaf said Iran and Oman reached an understanding to oversee the critical waterway as part of Tehran's seven-point proposal to end the eight-month conflict.

He said there are no “free waters” — international waters — in the strait, and that the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea does not apply to it. The regulations within the Strait of Hormuz, he said, are governed by the laws of the two littoral states that border it.

The top negotiator said Tehran provided a clear response to the US through a Qatari mediator that included its seven conditions for peace talks, adding that Iran is waiting for an official response. “The ball is now in the American court,” he said.

Iran's conditions, as outlined by Ghalibaf, include lifting the US-imposed naval blockade and sanctions, the release of Iranian frozen funds, ending fighting on all fronts, and an explicit announcement of an end to the war.

He said these demands were part of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding signed in June, and their implementation was necessary before entering negotiations with the US.

“If America limits itself to what has been agreed upon without making excessive demands or engaging in behaviour that breeds distrust, then, naturally, reaching an agreement is possible,” Ghalibaf said. “What stands in the way of an agreement is our lack of trust in the United States.”

He also said US officials asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate direct negotiations with Tehran during a visit to Moscow.

Ghalibaf warned against new US attacks on Iran, saying President Donald Trump would face another defeat and political pressure from the new Congress that takes office in January. Iran is determined to move beyond a state of “no war and no peace”, he said, urging a sustainable deterrent capability, including military capabilities.

On the ongoing fighting in Yemen between the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government forces and the Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah, Ghalibaf said “no one should interfere” in it. If both the government in Yemen and Saudi Arabia were to ask for Iran's help, he said, Iran would certainly offer assistance to help resolve their conflict. Iran has previously offered to facilitate talks between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi group in October, following a series of deadly attacks on the kingdom.