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Iran Conflict 2026
6AUG

Iran demands guarantees before US talks

2 min read
15:43UTC

Iran's foreign minister told the OIC in Baghdad on 17 October that Tehran will talk only with credible guarantees against new attacks.

ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

Tehran answered Washington's reply with a new condition: credible guarantees against fresh attacks.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addressed the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the main bloc of Muslim-majority states, in Baghdad on 17 October. He said Iran will talk only with "credible guarantees" against new attacks⁠1. He said Iran "does not accept coercion, threats and intimidation". He pointed back to the Hormuz plan Qatar carried for Tehran. Washington's written answer came back through Doha on 29 September. Tehran has answered it so far only with this new condition.

Araghchi said Iran could help broker dialogue on Yemen, and met the Turkish and Egyptian foreign ministers, Hakan Fidan and Badr Abdelatty, on the sidelines⁠2⁠3. In the same week Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to the Supreme Leader, called the war with Yemen "nothing but fratricide", state-affiliated Mehr reported⁠4. Tehran is offering itself as a Yemen broker while a Leader's adviser calls the war fratricide.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei denied on 4 October that Iran had offered International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections for sanctions relief⁠5. "Iran has not put forward any issue in exchange for sanctions relief," he said. Inspectors have reached only certain operations at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant since the 2025 strikes. The Wall Street Journal, citing officials it does not name, reports that Iran is strengthening defences around sensitive sites, nuclear ones included⁠6.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Iran and the US are not talking face to face. Messages pass through mediators, chiefly Qatar and Oman. In September Washington sent a written answer to an Iranian plan for reopening the strait of Hormuz. Iran has not replied in public. Now its foreign minister says Iran wants firm promises it will not be attacked again before it negotiates. The OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) is a body of 57 mostly Muslim-majority states. Its foreign ministers met in Baghdad.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Iran's demand rests on a record: Oman-mediated nuclear talks with Washington were still scheduled when Israel struck on 13 June 2025. Tehran argues that negotiating without protection invites attack mid-process.

US law gives the president wide room to withdraw from executive agreements without Congress. Any guarantee short of a Senate-ratified treaty can be undone, which is why Tehran keeps asking for something Washington struggles to give.

What could happen next?
  • Meaning

    A guarantees demand moves the bargaining from Hormuz terms to US conduct, which lengthens any path to a deal.

  • Opportunity

    Iraq's OIC chair and Turkish and Egyptian contacts give Tehran forums outside Qatar and Oman to shop its position.

First Reported In

Update #181 · Houthi missiles kill 13 at Riyadh's airport

Middle East Monitor· 17 Oct 2026
Read original →
Different Perspectives
Office for Budget Responsibility
Office for Budget Responsibility
The OBR's 28 October forecast assumed $82 oil for 2026 and 2027, from market prices for the ten working days to 19 August, and blamed dearer wholesale energy on the war without naming Iran. It expects CPI inflation close to 4% in early 2027 even at that price.
Hengaw, Kurdish rights group
Hengaw, Kurdish rights group
Hengaw reported the 3 November hangings of Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi in Isfahan, saying Ebrahimi was tortured into confessing and that nine of 12 people sentenced to death in the case have now been hanged. Iran's judiciary holds that the defendants killed members of the security forces.
FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit
FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit
FINTRAC worked with the US Treasury on the 6 November designation of eight money services businesses in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Treasury says the businesses still operate, some under new names, so closing them falls to Ottawa.
Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil, Governor of Nineveh
Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil, Governor of Nineveh
Al-Dakhil cancelled three Mosul International Airport contracts on 7 November over alleged links to armed groups, after meeting Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in Baghdad. He named no group or company, and said the contracts will go to international companies.
Kuwait
Kuwait
Kuwait condemned the Houthi missile fired towards the Madinah region on 5 November and restated its support for Saudi Arabia, the Qatar News Agency reported. Its state tanker company, Kuwait Oil Tankers Company, is among the Gulf state fleets on Iran's expanded Hormuz list.
Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary
Treasury designated an alleged Chandigarh false-flag network on 4 November and eight Canadian exchangers on 6 November, while State sanctioned alleged MANPADS intermediaries. None of the actions touches an oil buyer; they target the paper, cash and procurement around Iran's trade.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.