Iran to Pakistani army chief: No talks with Washington before our demands are met

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Iranian media reported that Tehran informed Pakistani Army Commander Field Marshal Asim Munir on Tuesday that there would be no talks with Washington until its demands were met, in a hardening of its position despite Islamabad’s mediation efforts.

Iranian Nour News Agency said that President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed mediation efforts and developments in the region during a meeting in Tehran with Mounir.

Pakistan is a major mediator between the United States and Iran. Its previous mediation efforts led to the signing of an interim peace agreement in June. But the "Islamabad Memorandum" quickly faltered with renewed fighting between Iran and the United States a few weeks after its signing.

Mounir also met with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. An Iranian statement regarding the meeting indicated that the Iranian official confirmed that Washington will not be able to gain Tehran’s trust unless it meets the seven conditions it put forward last month to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian conditions include ending the US blockade of its ports, lifting sanctions on its oil exports, and ending hostilities on all fronts in the region.

In turn, the Secretary-General of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, conveyed a similar message during a separate meeting with Mounir, as he said that there would be no talks with Washington until Tehran’s demands were met.

Rezaei also said that all enriched nuclear materials will remain in Iran, confirming the position of Iranian Leader Mojtaba Khamenei that uranium enriched to levels close to weapons-grade should not be sent abroad.

This comes as US Vice President Jay DeVance said this month that Iran must reduce its ability to enrich uranium in a “significant” way to meet American demands and end the war that has been ongoing between the two countries for eight months.

Israel, the United States and other Western countries have long accused Iran of seeking to possess nuclear weapons, pointing to its enrichment of uranium to 60 percent, which is much higher than what is needed for civilian uses and closer to the 90 percent needed to make a weapon. Iran denies seeking to possess nuclear weapons.