In a move designed to increase pressure on the US to make compromises in its conflict with his country, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi has been briefing European capitals on the nature of the offer Iran had been willing to make about its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and future stewardship of the strait of Hormuz during the weekend talks in Islamabad.
After the inconclusive talks, Araghchi held phone briefings with the French and German foreign ministers, Jean-Noël Barrot and Johann Wadephul, as well as the Saudi, Omani and Qatari foreign ministers.
It is understood he stressed that Iran did not regard the Pakistan-led process as exhausted even after 21 hours of intensive talks.
Europe has been sidelined on the Iran file by Donald Trump for more than a year, as the US president focused on working with Israel, while Tehran has largely dismissed European governments, seeing them as inveterate creatures of America. But the signs of the deepening transatlantic split, and the intense pressure being applied to European economies, has led Iran to review its stance on Europe as a potential lever on Trump.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, in Islamabad for talks with Iran. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/ReutersEuropean countries, to show some respect for Trump’s demand that they provide military support for his war, have focused on building a defensive non-belligerent naval alliance to police the freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz, but only after the conflict ends. The plan requires delicate talks about rules of engagement, likely to be drawn from the EU’s experience in the Red Sea fending off the Houthis during Operation Aspides.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced a further joint conference with the British to discuss the proposal with allies, the third such meeting since the initiative was launched. Any plan will require discussion with Tehran, including on its plan to impose tolls.
Trita Parsi, director of the Quincy Institute, said: “It is likely the Iranians are going to see if it is possible to move the Europeans at best in their direction, compared to where they have been before, which from the Iranian perspective has been very subservient to the US, and, if not, to see if there is a deeper split in Europe in which not all the states have to follow the line set by Germany, France or the UK.
“Iranians in particular are trying to establish quickly this mechanism at relatively low toll fees and to get as many countries as possible to agree to it.”
In the short term, Iran will be urging the countries with minesweeper equipment – Germany, the UK and Italy – to resist pressure from Washington to start clearing mines from the strait since Tehran will see this as an action as in support of Trump’s illegal blockade of Iranian oil ports.
The removal of the largely unmapped mines would be perilous in a benign, peaceful environment, but even more fraught if the operation was being carried out under attack by Iranian drones. British ministers said the issue of Iranian mines would be discussed at the Franco-British conference.
In the case of Italy, Trump’s attack on the pope, coupled with the defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, makes it politically fraught for the populist rightwing Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, to accede to the US pressure. Her close relationship with Trump and her support for Israel are buckling.
Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Altaf Qadri/APTehran has not expressed a definitive view of the French-British initiative, partly since it is not still clear what it entails, or what Iran’s long-term plan for the strait would require, including which ships would pay fees, on what legal basis, at what price, or in which currency.
A bill before the Iranian parliament proposes that new tolls would apply to all commercial traffic, and not just oil tankers. It is possible the country would demand payment in cryptocurrency as a way of avoiding US sanctions. The strait of Hormuz alone accounts for 11% of global maritime trade and a third of all seaborne oil.
Malley said he did not think a toll system would be sustainable, but added: “Iran has discovered a new means of deterrence which is more effective than acquiring a nuclear bomb and that is closing the strait of Hormuz.” The UK has insisted that freedom of navigation means navigation remains free.
Araghchi was highly critical last year of Europe’s refusal to stand up to Trump when the E3 powers – France, Germany and the UK – permitted UN sanctions to be reinstated due to Iran’s alleged failure to meet its commitments on access to its nuclear sites.
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