Vance says Iran must behave before any deal is possible
Tehran's own Tuesday deadline for a US reply on reopening the Strait of Hormuz passed unmet.
Published
Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
Vice President JD Vance said Iran must change its conduct before any agreement can be reached, restating a condition the administration has held for weeks rather than offering new terms.
The comment came as Tehran's own deadline for a US answer on reopening the Strait of Hormuz passed without a response. Iran is still waiting on a US reply to a seven-point plan it sent through Qatar. Foreign Minister Araghchi has said the Supreme Leader's terms must be met before the strait reopens at all.
Other officials have taken a harder line. An Iranian Army spokesperson offered a reward of 10 billion toman for the capture of an American soldier, dead or alive. An IRGC spokesperson said the United States must admit defeat and leave the region. Parliament speaker Qalibaf said the wider region will not be allowed to sell oil if Iran cannot sell its own. On Monday, President Trump said he had not offered Iran sanctions relief, contradicting earlier reports, and Iran's oil exports fell sharply under a US naval blockade even as Saudi and Iraqi exports recovered.
Set against that, Vance's condition adds no new terms and no shift from the standoff already in place. It does not narrow the gap between confrontation and mediation, and it leaves crude's Hormuz-linked risk premium, and the standoff itself, essentially where they were.