Iran seeks sanctions relief, end to US naval blockade in proposal

Pakistan’s ambassador-designate to Iran, Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, met Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday before leaving for Tehran, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.

Dar said Pakistan was committed to expanding cooperation with Iran in trade, connectivity, people-to-people exchanges and regional collaboration.

An Iranian lawmaker said on Tuesday that enemy vessels would not be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under a new legal framework the parliament is preparing.

The framework would be approved by parliament to manage the strategic waterway, said Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesman for national security and foreign policy committee.

“The Americans must either submit to diplomacy and our conditions, or to the power of our missiles,” he said.

The MP added that any new strikes on Iran would face a stronger response and that Tehran was prepared for all scenarios.

Iran is being forced to store oil on aging tankers anchored in the Persian Gulf as a US blockade squeezes its ability to export to the Far East, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

About 39 tankers carrying Iranian oil and petrochemicals were currently in the Persian Gulf, up from 29 before the blockade came into force on April 13, the report said, citing data from United Against Nuclear Iran.

Many vessels had built up near Iran’s Kharg Island oil export terminal, it added.

The FT and UANI also identified 13 suspected tankers moored off Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, just within what the report described as the theoretical US Navy blockade line.

The buildup points to the apparent effect of the blockade, which aims to subject Iranian vessels or ships suspected of carrying Iranian cargo to US Navy searches and seizures, the FT reported.

Ali Khezrian, a member of Iran’s parliament said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz could be used as leverage in negotiations with other countries over Iran’s frozen funds, adding that passage for ships could be made conditional on any agreement.

Khezrian said in an interview with state television that Iran’s power and influence had led some regional countries, despite being traditional US allies, to oppose Washington’s use of their military bases.

Iran’s Defence Ministry spokesperson on Monday rejected comments by US President Donald Trump claiming Iran’s defensive capabilities have been destroyed, saying parts of the country’s military capacity have not yet been used and that the “axis of resistance” is more cohesive than ever.

Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics, told Yemen’s Al Masirah TV that Trump “does not stop making false claims” about Iran’s military strength.

“The prestige of the United States has collapsed at the hands of our forces,” Talaei-Nik said.