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Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz or resume negotiations with Washington until seven conditions presented through intermediaries are met, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on October 22.
“We will not return to the diplomacy of the past, yet we are not abandoning diplomacy altogether,” Rezaei said in a statement carried by Iran’s ISNA news agency on October 22.
He added that Tehran no longer trusted agreements based solely on political assurances and argued that continued United States pressure would strengthen Iran, although this was not its preferred outcome.
Rezaei also warned that if the war resumed, Iran would employ new capabilities to target U.S. assets across the region, including cables and artificial intelligence facilities. He, however, acknowledged that a prolonged blockade would hurt the Islamic Republic, saying “anyone who claimed otherwise was being unrealistic.”
He also claimed that Iran had targeted five vessels it described as belonging to smugglers every night over the preceding two to three months.
The statements come as several recent reports indicated that the U.S. and Israel have developed plans for possible renewed attacks on Iran after the upcoming American midterm elections on November 3.
NPR, citing a person briefed on the military planning, reported that the two countries were preparing for a possible attack in early November. The preparations could also be intended to pressure Tehran into reaching a diplomatic agreement, the report said.
ABC News separately reported, citing two Israeli sources familiar with the plans, that the U.S. and Israel had drawn up plans for joint strikes in the coming weeks. Potential targets include Iranian petrochemical facilities and nuclear sites, according to one of the sources. The reporting did not establish that President Donald Trump had made a final decision to authorize renewed attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned in response to these reports that Tehran was prepared for such a scenario.
“Any scenario is conceivable, including the possibility of an attack by the U.S. and Israel,” he said, according to NPR.
The White House said the U.S. would not resume attacks before the midterm elections. Spokesperson Anna Kelly told ABC News, “The United States will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections.”
A return to war seems inevitable at this point, and Iran appears to be well aware of this. The next round of fighting will likely be the most serious since the first ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel entered into effect last April. Meanwhile, the diplomatic track appears to have reached a dead end.
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