Iran has called for sanctions to be eased amid the U.S. naval blockade
Iran has presented the United States with a list of conditions for resuming traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while Iranian officials are increasingly concerned about the state of the country’s economy, according to Fortune.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has called on the U.S. to lift the naval blockade and sanctions, withdraw its troops from the region, pay war reparations, unfreeze Iranian assets, and cease attacks on groups allied with Tehran and threats against the country. Iran and Oman are negotiating the organization of traffic through the strait, but Tehran insists that an agreement will not mean the automatic reopening of the waterway.
According to The Wall Street Journal, representatives of the moderate wing of the Iranian government believe that the renewed U.S. naval blockade is pushing the country’s economy toward collapse. Fortune also cites earlier reports stating that President Masoud Pezeshkian and the head of the central bank briefed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on the devastating impact of the initial blockade on the economy.
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Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Garibabadi, who is also one of the chief negotiators, told state-run IRIB television that the country’s economy desperately needs the sanctions relief that an agreement with the U.S. could provide. Last month, Pezeshkian also warned that increased economic pressure could lead to public discontent.
U.S. Central Command reported that, as part of its renewed enforcement of the blockade, it had diverted 53 commercial vessels, disabled two, and boarded two others. According to Fortune, shipping data and satellite imagery indicate that for at least a week, tankers have not been loading oil on the island of Khark, through which nine out of every ten barrels of Iranian oil exports pass.
Official Iranian data showed that annual inflation accelerated to 88.6% at the end of June; in the southern provinces, which suffered the heaviest bombardment, it reached nearly 100% or more. Unemployment rose to 9.1%, and the country’s GDP is projected to contract by 5.4% this year. Authorities have also asked the public to limit electricity consumption amid a severe heat wave.
