Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran will remain resolute and not retreat in the face of the United States and Israel, as US President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Addressing people who had gathered at the airport to welcome him after his return from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Pezeshkian said, “We stand firm with strength, we are at the service of our people, we will stand until our last breath, and we promise that as long as we have life in our bodies, we will be honest servants to the people; you have put us to shame, I do not consider myself worthy of your presence, I am your servant. In another assertion, this time from the Iranian Military, the Senior Spokesperson of the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said in an interview with Iranian state television that Iran had resolved “to have not the slightest retreat in the face of the enemy and to suppress him. Shekarchi said that Iran was “the most experienced country in the world in asymmetric warfare” and warned the United States against interfering in the management of the Strait of Hormuz. “The Americans should not dream of interfering in the management of the Strait of Hormuz, and if they interfere, they will receive a slap from the Iranian Armed Forces; they must leave our region,” he said. Earlier, in an interview with Al Jazeera aired on Saturday (local time), the Iranian President said that Iran no longer trusted negotiations with the United States after previous rounds of talks were followed by “attacks” and sanctions.
Under the proposal, Washington is expected to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, release an estimated USD 12 billion in frozen Iranian assets and observe a ceasefire covering the region, including Lebanon and Yemen. In return, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while talks with the US on a final agreement concerning Iran’s nuclear programme would begin on the seventh day.
Araghchi had said the initial steps would take four to five days and the waterway would reopen on the sixth day.
Pezeshkian and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier visited the US this week for the United Nations gathering of world leaders and proposed a seven-day roadmap aimed at ending the fighting and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
