Mediators' draft to end Iran war has US lift blockade on day one, Al Qahera says
Under the draft, Iran would invite IAEA inspectors to bombed nuclear sites on day one and reopen the Strait of Hormuz on day two, with Washington moving first.
Egyptian state-linked broadcaster Al Qahera News, citing Axios, says a mediators' draft to end the war with Iran would have the United States lift its naval blockade of Iran on day one and release part of Iran's frozen funds.
Iran's steps follow. It would formally invite the International Atomic Energy Agency to send inspectors to bombed nuclear sites on day one, reopen the Strait of Hormuz on day two, and begin nuclear negotiations focused on its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
The draft looks significant because of its form as much as its content. None of the earlier verbal offers or seven-condition lists carried day-by-day steps. This one does, and it has Washington going first on the blockade and the frozen funds.
That is the order Tehran has demanded all along. It is also the order Washington turned down in a seven-day plan it floated in late October. If the report is right, the draft asks the US to concede on sequencing, which it has so far refused to do.
© Raydn · raydn.us
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Middle East news aggregator Middle East Spectator said Iran has rejected the latest U.S. proposal, conveyed through Qatar, which contained a seven-day plan for opening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the blockade, citing Reuters. Saberin News, close to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, also reported the rejection, citing Reuters. Iran reportedly described the plan as a list of "unacceptable demands, not an offer." The U.S. reportedly asked for Iran's uranium to be transferred abroad upfront and for an immediate end to the Strait of Hormuz closure. Saberin News also quoted Araghchi as saying Iran will continue close and ongoing contact with intermediaries and will examine ideas that could implement the seven-day plan in less than a week, while its armed forces are fully prepared to defend the country.