Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, says the Strait of Hormuz will “never return” to its status before the US-Israel war on Iran, as Tehran awaits an official American response to its conditions for ending the conflict.

In an exclusive interview published by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Nov. 11, Ghalibaf said Iran and Oman had reached an understanding to oversee the waterway. He described that arrangement as part of Tehran’s seven-point proposal to end the eight-month war.

Ghalibaf asserted that the strait falls under the laws of its two bordering states, rather than the international framework he cited.

“There are no ‘free waters’ [international waters] there, and the 1982 [UN Convention on the Law of the Sea] does not apply to the strait,” he told Al Jazeera.

On diplomacy, Ghalibaf said Iran had delivered a clear response to Washington through a Qatari mediator, setting out seven conditions for peace talks. “The ball is now in the American court,” he said.

Among the conditions he outlined were lifting the US-imposed naval blockade and sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian funds, ending fighting on all fronts and explicitly announcing an end to the war.

Ghalibaf said those demands were included in the Islamabad memorandum of understanding signed in June. He maintained that implementing them was necessary before Iran entered negotiations with the United States.

He said an agreement remained possible if Washington adhered to what had already been agreed without making additional demands or taking actions that deepened distrust.

“What stands in the way of an agreement is our lack of trust in the United States,” he said.

Ghalibaf also said US officials had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to mediate direct negotiations with Tehran during a visit to Moscow. He warned against renewed American attacks and said Iran wanted to move beyond a state of “no war and no peace,” calling for a sustainable deterrent that included military capabilities.

Sources