Iran Calls U.S. Reply on Hormuz 'Insufficient' as Second Projectile Hits Riyadh Airport Terminal

Since the U.S. and Israel began the war against Iran on Feb. 28, and since the June memorandum on Hormuz navigation fell apart days after signing, the diplomacy has mostly been a series of rejected proposals. This weekend added two developments: a flat Iranian rebuke of Washington's latest reply, and a deadly escalation in Saudi Arabia.

Iran says the U.S. answer is not enough

Mohsen Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guard commander who now serves as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Washington's response to Tehran's seven conditions is "insufficient." Iranian state media carried his remarks.

Rezaei said the U.S. has accepted some of the conditions while others remain unclear, and that Washington must clarify them. He did not say which ones. He also said Iran is no longer responding to the U.S.

The conditions are not published in full. The demands that have been described include an end to hostilities, a ceasefire that would also cover Lebanon, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, relief from restrictions on Iranian oil sales, and an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Rezaei said the U.S. approached Iran over the past two months through Pakistan, Qatar and Iraq, asking for Iranian proposals. He said Tehran handed over the seven conditions about two weeks ago and will neither open the strait to the U.S. nor begin negotiations until they are met.

He also called control of the strait a national asset of Iran and said Gulf security is impossible without Tehran.

The seven-day plan

At the end of September, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi laid out what Iran calls the "Seven-Day Plan." Washington would carry out agreed steps in the first four or five days, shipping would resume on day six, and talks on a final deal would start on day seven. The proposal was relayed through Qatari mediation.

Araghchi said recently that messages are still moving through mediators and that Tehran would answer the American proposal "within the next few days." That sits awkwardly with Rezaei's statement that Iran has stopped responding. Iran has not explained the gap.

A separate Iranian proposal at the U.N. General Assembly last month, a sped-up deal modeled on the June memorandum, was rejected. The two sides have stayed in contact through mediators.

The Kremlin said Putin relayed Iran's position on a peace deal to Trump during their Friday call, which was mainly about diesel.

Rezaei also threatened "cables, data centers, AI facilities and other sites in the region" if intense fighting resumes. Iranian media have not detailed what that would involve.

Riyadh airport hit two days in a row

A missile struck a passenger terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, Oct. 10, killing 12 people and wounding around 300, some critically. It was the deadliest attack in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began.

On Sunday, Oct. 11, another projectile hit the same terminal complex, according to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. Terminals 3 and 4, which handle domestic flights, were affected. Saudi authorities reported injuries, and the airport was closed.

The Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility. They say the airport has been targeted every day since Wednesday, Oct. 7. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the strikes answer "brutal Saudi aggression" and claimed Saudi Arabia launched more than 120 airstrikes in 24 hours on Houthi-held areas of Yemen. That figure is the Houthis' claim; Riyadh has not confirmed it. Saree urged "everyone to take our warnings seriously" about flying in Saudi airspace.

Trump has said he is considering whether to join Saudi Arabia in responding.

The argument over U.S. involvement

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that the U.S. should not retaliate on Saudi Arabia's behalf. He argued that war with the Houthis would be an escalation with dangerous consequences.

"This administration is absolutely incompetent in war-making," Murphy said, "and so just as we have made the Middle East worse and more chaotic by getting involved in a war against Iran, we would simply escalate and make the situation even more dangerous."

The administration has not publicly answered Murphy's charge. It has not said what it would do about Saudi Arabia or which of Iran's seven conditions it has accepted. Two things bear watching: whether Araghchi's promised response arrives despite Rezaei's statement, and whether Trump commits U.S. forces against the Houthis.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, sat in an Israeli courtroom as his former attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, testified in the corruption trial. Israeli elections are weeks away.