Iran: No Talks, No Hormuz Without US Concessions

Iran has firmly declared that it will neither resume nuclear negotiations with the United States nor reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz unless Washington formally accepts a set of seven preconditions previously tabled by Tehran. The  warning was delivered by Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in an interview with Iranian state television.

“We will not return to the past—neither to the framework of the Islamabad Memorandum nor to any arrangement that preceded it,” Rezaei stated, explicitly rejecting return to earlier diplomatic frameworks. “Unless the United States fulfills seven conditions put forward by Iran, neither will the Strait of Hormuz be reopened, nor will negotiations with Washington commence.”

Rezaei emphasized that Tehran feels no urgency to engage in dialogue, arguing that the onus is on the United States to first demonstrate sincerity and rebuild trust with the Iranian people. “We are in no rush to negotiate,” he said. “The United States must first earn the trust of the Iranian nation. Words are not enough—there must be verifiable actions.”

He also drew a clear distinction between the current set of demands and those made in previous diplomatic rounds. According to Rezaei, the seven conditions now on the table are fundamentally different in scope and substance from earlier iterations, reflecting a hardened stance in Tehran’s strategic calculus.