Iran issues 10-point ceasefire conditions
The US military has paused its strikes on Iran after President Donald Trump announced he has agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Tehran in a last-minute offramp, allowing him to delay his threat to obliterate Iran’s power grid and bridges.
Trump said the proposal, extended by Pakistan, would include opening the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass in peacetime– while Washington and Tehran tried to negotiate a peace deal.
Tehran also said it has accepted the proposal, with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi saying that if the US and Israel halt their attacks, Iran will also suspend its “defensive operation” for two weeks.
Araghchi– a veteran of past nuclear negotiations with the United States– said that the Iranian military will coordinate the passage of vessels through the critical waterway during the two-week ceasefire but insisted that “Iran’s Armed Forces” would retain control of the passage.
Tehran also claimed victory in the war that started after US-Israeli strikes on February 28 and said it forced the United States to accept its 10-point plan, including lifting sanctions and accepting its nuclear enrichment.
In a statement, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the ceasefire plan would require “continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of enrichment, and lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions”.
Other key demands in the blueprint, offered through mediators in Pakistan, include US military withdrawal from the Middle East, an end to attacks on Iran and its allies, the release of frozen Iranian assets and a UN Security Council resolution making any deal binding.
“It is to be noted that the adoption of such a resolution shall render all these agreements binding under international law and shall constitute a significant diplomatic victory for the Iranian nation,” the country’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement.
Crucially, the plan also calls for expanded Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for around a fifth of the world’s oil that has been effectively blocked to maritime traffic since the start of the five-week conflict.
Iran’s 10-Point conditions include non-aggression, continuation of Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of enrichment, lifting all primary sanctions, lifting all secondary sanctions, termination of all UN Security Council resolutions, termination of all IAEA Board of Governors resolutions, payment of compensation to Iran, withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic Resistance of Lebanon.
