Iran urges states not to succumb to US threats as it keeps the door open to diplomacy | Today’s news
Iran urged other countries not to back down to US threats as Washington stepped up its campaign of economic pressure against Tehran, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying renewed diplomacy between the two sides was nevertheless “not impossible”.
Iran tells countries not to bow to US pressure
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X on Friday that progress “depends on the US understanding one simple fact: pressure does not work”. Without elaborating, he urged Washington to build trust and honor its commitments.
The relatively positive comments came after a series of diplomatic visits to Tehran, along with talks between Iran and Oman on a framework to allow vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan, the main mediator in the six-month conflict, sent a delegation to the Iranian capital on Monday, while senior officials from Oman and Qatar followed later in the week.
The US remains hawkish in its public comments. Finance Minister Scott Bessent on Monday launched a campaign to further squeeze Iran’s economy, threatening to punish any country doing business with the Islamic republic.
President Donald Trump has indicated he will not lift the blockade of Iranian ports — a key demand of Tehran — just to resume talks. He also has no interest in returning to the terms of the now-defunct interim peace deal agreed in June, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani’s meetings in the Iranian capital focused on ways to create “suitable conditions” for resuming talks with the US, the Gulf country’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Another priority is to work on ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he said. The critical waterway for oil and gas supplies has been effectively paralyzed since the US-Israeli war began in late February.
Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaee, said the country would move to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US met a set of conditions, which he did not specify. Iran’s military said on Wednesday that a revenue-sharing deal had been reached with Oman over transit through the strait, although Iranian officials have repeatedly said the deal would not amount to an immediate reopening of the waterway.
Still, the flow of oil through the strait is increasing as Iran’s threat to shipping has dissipated.
About 6 million to 8 million barrels of oil a day are now moving through the key bottleneck, according to estimates by oil traders who monitor and participate in the cargo movement. This is roughly half of the pre-war level. Total Gulf oil exports, which include land routes, have recovered to about two-thirds of the volume seen before February, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimated.
Oil prices were more or less flat on Friday, with Brent crude trading at around $89 a barrel, up about 45% this year.
For the first time since the start of the war, Iraq is offering buyers of its oil the ability to gather supplies from outside the Gulf, underscoring the nations resilience in trying to maintain exports. But due to the ongoing uncertainty, Qatar has extended the force majeure for the supply of liquefied natural gas to European and Asian buyers for another month.
Araghchi was a prominent supporter of the now-collapsed cease-fire deal signed in June, a stance that has drawn criticism from Iranian hardliners who are generally in favor of continued fighting.
