Tehran spurns Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and insists on guarantees it will not be attacked again
Iran has spurned two messages from Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, seeking a ceasefire as its leaders sense it is not losing the war and the US president is at the minimum feeling the political pressure.
The foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has further said a unilateral declaration from Trump that the US had won the war would not bring an end to the conflict. The implication is that even if the US announced a willingness to end its attacks,Iranmight be willing to continue the conflict in some form, or keep its chokehold on shipping seeking to navigate the strait of Hormuz.
Iran believes there can be no end to the conflict until it believes Trump has been shown the economic, political and military cost is so high that it is not worth repeating. It is instead insisting on a permanent deal that includes a US commitment not to attack Iran again.
“If a ceasefire is to be established or the war stopped there must be a guarantee that aggressive actions against Iran will not be repeated. Otherwise if another attack occurs after a few months such a ceasefire would be meaningless,” said Kazem Gharibabadi, the deputy foreign minister.
The defiance is remarkable for a regime that at the start of the war 11 days ago was seeking little more than its own survival.
Nevertheless, the foreign ministry in conversations with the large number of countries offering to mediate is exploring whether it is feasible for the war simply to stop as it did in June last year, or must end with some kind of pact that might include a conditional lifting of US economic sanctions.
“We are absolutely NOT seeking a ceasefire,” the speaker of the parliament, Mohammed Ghalibaf, posted to social media. “Let the enemy know that whatever they do, there will certainly be a proportionate and immediate retaliation […] We are fighting eye for eye, tooth for tooth, without compromise or exception.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has stressed that it will control the strait of Hormuz, which carries nearly 20% of the world’s crude oil and about 20% of liquefied natural gas. “At the beginning of the war we announced and we announce again no vessel associated with aggressors against Iran has the right to pass through the strait of Hormuz,” it said. “If you have doubts, come closer and find out.” The IRGC has also said it will allow ships though from countries that expel their US and Israeli ambassadors.
Even the less militant president, Masoud Pezeshkian, sounded a defiant note arguing “the destroyers have come and gone. Iran remains.”
Source: Drudge Report
