Iran and the United States are far from reaching a deal to end the war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, despite heightened diplomatic efforts to prevent a potential return to active conflict after the US midterm elections.
The US carried out "defensive" strikes on Iran's Qeshm island overnight, with a US official saying the strikes targeted surface-to-air missiles used against US assets. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guards said they downed a US MQ-9 drone overnight in the skies over the east of the Strait of Hormuz.
"Mediators are working hard to narrow gaps between Tehran and Washington," the senior Iranian official said, after Qatari mediators travelled to Tehran on Monday night for talks on a version of the draft US-Iran deal that has been under negotiation for the past eight days.
“Tehran's conditions must be met if the US wants Hormuz reopened,” the Iranian official cautioned, adding that nuclear talks could only start afterwards and that Tehran would not accept Washington's "excessive demands".
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Tuesday that the ball was in the US' court after Tehran gave a "strong and rational response" to Washington.
The senior Iranian told Reuters Tehran would respond forcefully, in the region and beyond, to US strikes.
"The enemy seeks to force the Iranian nation into submission through threats and military action, but they are sorely mistaken, Iran will not submit," Qalibaf also said on Tuesday, adding that Tehran's response to any miscalculation by the US would be unpredictable and disregard geographical constraints.
US President Donald Trump raised doubt on Monday about whether he would follow through on a threatened resumption of military strikes against Iran after the midterm elections on Tuesday, adding that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal as soon as possible.
REGIONAL DIALOGUE CONTINUES
In parallel to US-Iran exchange of messages via intermediaries, diplomatic efforts are ongoing at the regional level to prevent further deflagration.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that Tehran aims to reach new regional security arrangements for countries in the region without foreign military involvement.
Last week, top officials from Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran, the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations since August. The US-Israeli war on Iran started in late February and since then, fighting has spread to Yemen and other areas.
Impoverished Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthis pushed the internationally recognized government out of the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
