Iran insists only diplomacy can solve conflict after Trumps rejects peace proposal

Open this photo in gallery:Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, addresses the media at a press conference, at UN headquarters in New York City, U.S., Sept. 25.Bing Guan/ReutersIran insisted on Sunday that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel after U.S. President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting.“Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on social media. “Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock.”Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump said on Saturday he rejected the plan and argued that desperation was driving the Iranians’ push for an agreement on the key waterway.“They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” Trump told reporters at the White House.Despite Trump’s public statements, mediators facilitating Tehran’s talks with Washington have not officially relayed a U.S. rejection of the plan, Araqchi said.“We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them,” Araqchi posted.The U.S. has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to stop Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have drastically reduced shipping through the area even as Trump repeatedly asserts that the U.S. controls the waterway.The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed U.S. officials.Iranian flights to Gulf neighbours cancelled as new U.S. sanctions take effectIt said Trump was privately skeptical that Iran would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November U.S. midterm elections.A U.S. official had said earlier that discussions with Iran through mediators were “positive and constructive.”The commander-in-chief of Iran’s army, Amir Hatam, said the war was at a critical and decisive stage, adding that Tehran would not accept a situation in which it was unable to trade while foreign powers used the region’s strategic waterways.“If Iran cannot trade, if Iran cannot live, no one will be able to trade or live,” he said, in comments reported by state media.The Iranians also engaged their Saudi rivals regarding the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the stakes of a seven-month-old conflict that has disrupted oil flows through a critical shipping lane and taken a toll on the global economy.Araqchi told reporters at the UN on Friday the proposed deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.“If there is seriousness on the U.S. side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared,” Araqchi said. If the U.S. were to agree, the warring parties could start wider talks “on mutually agreed subjects.”That could potentially include discussions of Iran’s nuclear program. Trump cited preventing Tehran from ever acquiring a nuclear bomb as a key goal when launching the war, along with ending its ability to attack its neighbours and creating conditions for Iranians to topple their leadership.A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran would show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the U.S. accepted its peace deal.Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of the country, the official said.Iran’s President vows not to surrender to U.S., but says country is ready for talksIranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with the CBS show “Face the Nation,” said Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear program and other issues, but would not accept “bullying or coercion.”“Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that it had already agreed that “we’re not supposed to develop nuclear weapons.”Seven killed in air strike in Yemen Previous attempts at diplomacy have failed to end the war, which began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.Since then it has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands while degrading the conventional forces of Iran and damaging its already ailing economy.Iran and its allies have responded by extending the conflict throughout the region. Iran has struck U.S. allies in the Gulf with drones and missiles while its Houthi allies in Yemen have hit Saudi interests.Yemen’s Houthi-run health ministry said seven people were killed and 40 wounded, including children, in a strike on shops at a market at the Mawiya junction in Taiz province, in the southwest, on Sunday.Later, Yemen’s internationally recognized government said its forces had targeted a Houthi military camp and vehicles at the same junction.