Iran says IAEA inspected nuclear site, US should heed public sentiment and end war

Iran urged Washington on Monday to accept its demands and end the war, in light of the costs of continuing the conflict and the sentiments of American voters following last week’s midterm elections, which saw Democrats win control of both chambers of the US Congress.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also said UN inspectors had examined one of its nuclear sites at Bushehr, saying the inspection “serves as evidence that this regulated cooperation continues” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran’s appeal for the US to accede to its demands was made as the country’s president said its supreme leader instructed officials to pursue an end to the prolonged standoff. It also came amid reports of a US offer to partially lift its blockade in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key pathway for the global oil and gas supply.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei argued that the US was being pulled into war by Israel, repeating a claim the country has made before. Critics of Israel on both sides of the aisle in the United States have made the same accusation.

“Washington must understand the extent to which its involvement with the aims of a regime that commits genocide and pursues a policy of instigating wars can create problems for it,” he said in a press briefing. “US officials must see that following Israel’s policies and military aggression against Iran comes with heavy costs on American society and its ruling class.”

Referring to the Democrats’ decisive victory in the recent US midterm elections, which a range of officials have blamed on widespread opposition to the war, Baghaei said an agreement depended on Washington understanding “the sentiments of its own society,” and that Iran’s proposal was “the most logical, operational and structured roadmap.”

He reiterated Iran’s stance that the US must give in to Iranian demands in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“Tehran will only sign and implement an agreement that fully secures the national interests and legal rights of the Iranian nation,” he stressed, praising the mediation efforts of Pakistan and Qatar.

Baghaei called the new US Iron Gate task force, meant to shut down Iran’s overland military supply networks, a “means of deflecting from the US midterm results.”

Responding to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statements to reporters on Sunday that Iran’s demands were “outrageous and ridiculous,” Baghaei said that “the US attack on Iran in the middle of negotiations is what is outrageous and ridiculous,” referring to US strikers on Qeshm Island.

Iranian state media reported explosions late Sunday in Qeshm near the Strait of Hormuz. No vital infrastructure or services were impacted in the US attack, a provincial official told the semi-official Fars news agency, adding that the targeted sites were away from residential and commercial areas.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that US strikes were targeting Iranian radar systems serving both air defense and ship navigation, as well as bases for missile launchers and mine-laying systems.

Iran says IAEA inspects nuclear plant

Baghaei also said Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency had recently inspected Iran’s nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

He said that the UN nuclear watchdog had “failed to fulfill their legal obligations by adopting positions that overlook the culpability and wrongdoing in the aggression against Iran’s facilities.”

“Professional communication between Iran’s mission in Vienna and the agency is ongoing,” Baghaei said.

Iran said Monday it had summoned Austria’s charge d’affaires after the European country refused to allow Iran’s nuclear chief to take part in a meeting of the UN nuclear agency in Vienna.

“The Austrian government’s refusal to issue visas to the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a completely unjustified decision,” Baghaei said. He alleged the decision had been made under US pressure.

US reportedly offering Iran partial lifting of blockade

The US has proposed to Iran a phased plan to open the Strait of Hormuz that would start with a partial lifting of its blockade, the Emirati Erem News reported, citing diplomatic sources familiar with mediated talks between Washington and Tehran.

The second phase would include nuclear talks, with a gradual lifting of sanctions on Iran and the release of frozen Iranian funds, according to the report.

Iran has not responded to the US offer, and wants Washington to make written commitments and take tangible steps in lifting its blockade of Iranian ports and releasing funds. However, according to a diplomatic source, Washington sees Iran as the party that violated the June memorandum of understanding between the sides, and therefore says it should be the one making commitments on opening Hormuz before moving forward.

According to Iranian journalist Ali Gholhaki, seen as close to the regime’s security services, the latest Qatari proposal would allow Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent, see Iran’s highly enriched uranium diluted inside the country, lift the US naval blockade, bring IAEA inspectors into Iran, and release up to $10 billion in Iranian assets.

Qatari PM in Washington for talks with Trump, Vance

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continued, with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani meeting US President Donald Trump and scheduled to meet Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Monday after having visited Tehran last week, according to Reuters.

Trump’s meeting with Thani took just under an hour, a White House official said.

The sit-down was notably kept closed to the press, breaking from Trump’s general preference of taking questions from reporters while hosting world leaders.

Senior United Arab Emirates official Anwar Gargash said a comprehensive political settlement between the US and Iran appeared difficult.

“We should… prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor stable regional order can be taken for granted,” Gargash said.

 

Anxiety over the war has pervaded the region for months, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday he had told Trump that Ankara did not want to see a new escalation.

“We emphasize at every opportunity that it is possible to resolve these issues through dialogue and diplomacy. Unfortunately, we see a negative shift once again. We are doing our utmost to prevent this,” Erdogan told reporters.

Iranian president: Supreme leader wants to end ‘no war, no peace’ reality

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei told the country’s leadership to end the “no war, no peace” state against the US, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said.

“The supreme leader ordered us to end the no-war, no-peace situation,” said Pezeshkian, seen as one of the senior officials who would like to see a deal with the US to relieve his country’s economic pain. “We can hold talks with dignity and bring the matter to an end with dignity.”

Khamenei has not been seen or heard since he assumed office in March, and is believed to have been badly wounded in the Israeli strike that killed his father. It is unclear whether he is actually giving orders in the Islamic Republic.

Pezeshkian said he understood that the Iranian public was suffering under US sanctions and blockade: “I am here today and have a responsibility to serve the country and its people… I cannot accept that anyone in the country goes to bed hungry.”

He also said he was moving to a smaller office in order to save energy.

G7 ministers press Rubio on Iran, Ukraine in Paris

G7 top diplomats began a two-day meeting in Paris, with European foreign ministers set to press US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ensure any settlement in the war with Russia was fair to Ukraine and steer clear of any new escalation with Iran.

Rubio said he expected allies to have a lot of questions about the conflict and next steps, according to the AP.

The meeting of ministers from the leading industrialized nations of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States provided Europe and its allies with a chance to air concerns with their US counterpart.

On Iran, Europeans were eager to see a resolution and shipping traffic return to normal in the Strait of Hormuz energy transit hub.

Against that backdrop, oil prices fell sharply on hopes for diplomatic talks aimed at ending the US-Iran war, with the main international contract, Brent North Sea crude, dropping more than 5% to as low as $93.32 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 4.5% to $86.75 a barrel.