Iran offers 10-point formula to US, drops demand for reparations

Various reports point to a 10-point peace formula proposed by Iran to end the conflict in the West Asia. In response to a permanent end to the war on Iran, and not just a ceasefire, and withdrawal of all US sanctions on Iran and an end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Iran is ready to open the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has proposed to impose a fee of $2 million per ship for passage through the Strait and share the fees with Oman. The plan, it is learnt, has been handed over to the mediators from Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt.

A guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again and ending all regional hostilities directed at Iranian allies precede all the other conditions laid down, it is being reported. Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar, while describing the plan as ‘eminently reasonable’, however is convinced that the US or Israel will not agree to give iron-clad guarantees that Iran will not be attacked again. Israel, he posted on X, would never agree to stop its invasion of and strikes on Lebanon.

Escobar acknowledges that the Hormuz Strait is already open to countries not hostile to Iran, which is already collecting the $2 million fees from ships. Discussions with Oman have been on to finalise modalities of safe passage and payments to be shared by the Gulf state. He also finds the proposal to use the Hormuz fees for Iran’s reconstruction - instead of reparations ‘reasonable’.

Mahdi Mohammadi, strategic adviser to Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Tuesday that “Iran has clearly and overtly won the war” and will only accept terms that “consolidate its gains and create a new security regime in the region.” On Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, Mohammadi wrote: “It is Trump who has about 20 hours to either surrender to Iran or his allies will return to the Stone Age. We will not back down”.

The Iranian Speaker had himself posted on Sunday a direct message to the US President that stated, “Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living hell for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands. Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes. The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game. Under no circumstances will the Islamic Republic of Iran bow to the genocidal regime in Washington. Trump and his Zionist overlords will soon destroy the global economy.”

The sabre rattling by Trump and the defiant response from Tehran have been followed by an Iranian strike on the Saudi petrochemical complex.  After Iran’s petrochemical hub was attacked by the US and Israel, Iran responded on 7 April by striking the Saudi industrial hub. Jubail is Saudi Arabia’s main industrial hub and operates with nearly 300 active industries. The complex also has large-scale dedicated power stations and desalination plants, factories manufacturing fertilizers, steel, aluminium, and chemical products.

There is consternation in global markets as a simultaneous shutdown of Iran’s petrochemicals and Saudi’s SABIC would trigger a global industrial "cardiac arrest." Removing one-fifth of the world’s trade in methanol, urea, and polymers would spike global inflation and pose a dire threat to global food and medical security, experts warned.

That Iran means business and is willing to carry out the threat of reducing the Gulf region to the stone age in retaliation was reinforced by a social media post from Tehran University Professor and unofficial spokesman of the Iranian government Seyed Mohammad Marandi. “Evacuate the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar immediately. The Islamic Republic of Iran will destroy all critical infrastructure of these regimes as soon as the Epstein Coalition targets the critical infrastructure of the Iranian people”, he posted on X on Tuesday, 7 April.