Iran must “strike a deal” with the US to end the war by accepting concessions on its nuclear program and reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz, writes former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in an article in Foreign Affairs magazine.
Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister from 2013 to 2021, was one of the architects of the international agreement the country reached in 2015 on its nuclear program, but he no longer has an official role in the government. Yet this is the first time since the start of the war on February 28 that a senior Iranian official has publicly advocated for a peace deal.
In order to avoid further civilian casualties, Iran “should take advantage of the dominant position (in which it finds itself) not to continue fighting, but to declare victory and conclude an agreement that ends this conflict while preventing the next one,” Zarif stresses in his article published yesterday, Thursday, evening.
According to him, Tehran “should propose setting limits on its nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the lifting of all sanctions – a deal that Washington would not have accepted before but might accept now.”
Zarif also refers in his article to the possibility of “economic deals” between Iran and the US, which “would be a win-win” for both countries.
The Iranian former minister’s article was published in Foreign Affairs hours after US President Donald Trump threatened in a speech on Wednesday to intensify strikes against Iran and send the country “back to the Stone Age where it belongs.”
“As an Iranian, outraged by Donald Trump’s irresponsible attack and crude insults but proud of our armed forces and the mental fortitude of our people, I am in a dilemma regarding the publication of this peace plan in Foreign Affairs. I am nonetheless convinced that the war must end under conditions compatible with Iran’s national interests,” Zarif noted in X today.
