Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A day after US President Donald Trump boasted that he could end the ongoing war in West Asia at his will, Iran listed three conditions to end the hostilities involving over a dozen countries in and around the volatile region, the media reported on Thursday.
Late on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the only way to end the war is “recognising Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm international guarantees against future aggression on his country.”
He said he gave that message to the “leaders of Russia and Pakistan.”
Tehran has told regional intermediaries that for a ceasefire, the US must guarantee that neither it nor Israel will strike Iran in the future. Iran is particularly concerned Israel will attack again after the current war ends, according to reports.
The back-channel, or Track Two, diplomatic talks to end the war are being facilitated by some European and West Asian countries.
Commenting on this, a senior White House official said the campaign against Iran continues unabated. He cited President Donald Trump as saying Iran’s potential new leaders have indicated they want to talk and eventually will talk.
The conflict between US-Israel and Iran that began on February 28 shows little sign of an imminent de-escalation. Trump said this week that it could be over soon because the Iranian military has been degraded to a huge extent. But in public, all three countries say they are prepared to continue fighting for several weeks.
Iran continues to fire missiles and drones toward Israel and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. Its strikes on ships have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas flows — causing chaos in energy markets.
Saudi Arabia intensified its direct engagement with Iran last week to contain the conflict. Other Gulf states — who are seeing their economies and financial markets take a severe hit because of the relentless war — are also trying to speak to Iran and to the US.
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday, the first such call between them since the conflict erupted. The sultan condemned Iran’s attacks on Oman, according to Omani state media, which disclosed few other details. The call came after Iranian drones struck fuel tanks at Salalah port in southern Oman.
The US and Israel have sent mixed messages on their war aims. Initially, they both implied they wanted regime change. But despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei being killed in the opening salvos, Iran has stood firm and proved its resilience militarily. It signalled its defiance by choosing Khamenei’s hardline son Mojtaba as the new supreme leader.
The Israeli and US governments have since suggested they would accept lesser goals than an overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Those include the destruction of Iran’s missile program and its navy.