Iran Calls US Response 'Not Convincing' and Ties Hormuz Reopening to Seven Demands

Iran's top security official rejected the latest U.S. response to its demands on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and said the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until Washington meets every one of Tehran's seven conditions.

"America's response to Iran's rights and demands was not convincing, and they must fully and explicitly address Iran's seven conditions and act upon them; only in this case will the Strait of Hormuz be reopened," Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X.

A draft deal, then a rejection

The statement came the same day the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported, citing sources close to the mediation team, that Washington had approved a draft memorandum of understanding delivered to Iran by a Qatari delegation on Monday. The paper also claimed Saudi Arabia and the UAE were briefed and signed off, and that the two sides had agreed to concessions on the nuclear file and frozen assets. That account rests on the paper's own sources. Neither government has confirmed it.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said Tehran is "not afraid of diplomacy," but only if it safeguards Iranian interests. "Given the United States' record of violating previous agreements, we participate in any diplomatic process with the utmost caution and complete distrust," he said. He added that any understanding depends on a commitment to "stopping the war on all fronts, including Lebanon."

An unnamed Iranian official told a briefing that mediators are working to narrow the gaps, that nuclear talks start only after Iran's conditions are met, and that Washington's current demands are "excessive."

What Tehran is demanding

Iranian officials have laid out the conditions for weeks. As reported, they include:

• A ceasefire across the region, including Lebanon and Gaza
• Lifting the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports
• Release of Iranian assets frozen abroad
• Lifting sanctions on Iran's oil sector
• War reparations
• Withdrawal of U.S. forces
• An end to what Tehran calls threats and interference

That is a long list for a U.S. administration to accept in full. Iranian officials have said repeatedly that Hormuz stays closed until all of it is delivered.

Strikes on Qeshm and a deadly attack at sea

The diplomacy is running alongside shooting. The U.S. struck targets on Iran's Qeshm Island late Monday. A U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal the strikes were a "defensive measure" against Iranians firing surface-to-air missiles at U.S. assets, and that the Pentagon has carried out similar limited strikes along Iran's southern coast for weeks.

Trump told Fox in a phone interview that Iran was building an anti-aircraft system. "We watched it get built. When it was completed, we hit it last night," he said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry, commenting on Qeshm, said Iran is "now at war," according to Lebanese outlet MTV.

The Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday that Iran's armed forces and leadership will decide "the time and conditions for ending the enemy's attacks." They said orders from the supreme leader, "maximum deterrence" first among them, had gone to senior commanders. The statement named no specific retaliation. A separate Guards statement marking the Nov. 4, 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy said the force is updating its target list on the orders of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and preparing responses "unrestricted by geography."

At sea, the UK Maritime Trade Operations center said it was aware of an Indian government report of an attack on an Indian-crewed dhow outbound through the Strait of Hormuz. Indian Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the MSV Al Jusufi carried 14 Indian seafarers. Thirteen were evacuated and rescued by the Omani Coast Guard. At least one seafarer was killed. The sources do not say who carried out the attack.

The Revolutionary Guards separately claimed three tankers hit naval mines and caught fire in the strait after crossing without permission with their tracking systems off, and said they shot down two U.S. Lucas drones near Bandar Khamir. No casualties from the tanker incidents have been reported, and the claims come only from the Guards.

Washington's read

The U.S. side sounds more upbeat. Vice President JD Vance told CNN that "the president and I both feel really good about the prospect of potentially coming to a negotiated settlement." Trump said Monday that oil prices were falling on hopes of a deal. "Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!" he wrote.

He also told Axios he is in "no rush" to decide whether to resume full-scale attacks. "One way or the other, we will do something, but there is no rush. We crippled them financially. They have no money, no gasoline and their people are getting very tired of it," he said. Qatari mediators, Axios noted, are waiting for feedback from both capitals.

Oil has reacted to the back-and-forth. WTI fell to its lowest level in three weeks on the optimism, according to market commentary, before the Rezaei statement.

Rumors of a bigger strike

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Minsk that reports of a possible U.S. strike on Iran after the midterm elections remain uncorroborated. He was responding to Tucker Carlson's claim on X that Trump could order a nuclear strike on Iran's underground Pickax Mountain facility under pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Lavrov said Russia found no confirmation elsewhere and made no special request to Washington. Neither the White House nor Israel has endorsed Carlson's claim in the sources available.

What comes next

The two governments are describing the same talks in opposite terms. Trump says Tehran wants a deal. Tehran says the U.S. has not met its terms. Qatari mediators are awaiting responses from both sides, and Trump has said he has not decided whether to resume full-scale attacks. The Revolutionary Guards' anniversary statement, issued ahead of the Nov. 4 anniversary, is the latest marker of how Tehran intends to answer the Qeshm strikes.