Tehran, Apr 22 (EFE).- Iran said on Wednesday that it would return to the negotiating table with the United States when the “necessary and reasonable conditions” are met and underlined that it was prepared to defend itself in case of fresh attacks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei was speaking about whether Tehran would negotiate again with the US to end the war after uncertainty in recent days about a meeting in Pakistan that did not eventually happen Wednesday.
The diplomat said that Iran would go ahead with the talks once it concluded that the “necessary and reasonable conditions” were met, but did not explain what those conditions were.
He stressed that the negotiations would seek to «achieve national interests and to consolidate the achievements of the Iranian nation in thwarting the enemies’ malicious objectives.»
Regarding the extension of the indefinite ceasefire announced Tuesday by US President Donald Trump, Baghaei said that Iran was not the one that initiated this war and that its actions have been in self-defense against the military aggression of the US and Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced Wednesday having seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz for operating without the “necessary permits,” in what is seen as an escalation in the conflict.
Negotiations between Tehran and Washington remain stalled after days of uncertainty over whether delegations led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf would sit in Islamabad for a second round of talks, after the first direct contact on Apr. 11 and Apr. 12.
Tehran reiterated on Wednesday that it would not attend further talks while the naval blockade of its ports continued, a measure that Washington has continued to enforce despite the ceasefire extension.
Iran, in turn, has kept the Strait of Hormuz – through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes – practically blocked since the start of the war on Feb. 28. EFE
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