Iran’s top security official has reiterated that the country will not ease restrictions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz until the United States genuinely changes its behavior toward Tehran.
Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said in a message on Saturday that Iran’s policy to deal with the United States is to avoid any concessions that would violate the rights of the Iranian people.
“The SNSC will never back down, whether in war or in negotiations,” said Zolqadr, whose body is in charge of handling Iran’s current confrontation with the US.
Iran has imposed restrictions on transit via the Strait of Hormuz since the early days of the US-Israeli war of aggression in early March. The waterway is responsible for a fifth of global oil demand and a third of the world’s supply of fertilizers.
Zolqadr said in his message, which was specifically addressed to the Iranian media on the occasion of Journalist’s Day in the country, included six main conditions that Iran views as critical to reopening the Strait.
The conditions were for the US to refrain from threatening or insulting the sacred beliefs of the Iranian nation, a permanent end of aggression on Iran and its regional allies, lifting the naval blockade and all sanctions on the country, returning its frozen assets, and paying compensation for damage resulting from the aggression.
The SNSC chief said the conditions are in fact the demands cried out by millions of Iranians who have been on the streets to support their government and country since the start of the aggression on February 28.
