The Iranian response to the ceasefire document on the table barely changed any of its previous positions, and concerns a ceasefire of about a month for negotiations on the nuclear issue and other matters, alongside the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians demanded that the first steps to reopen the strait be taken by the Americans.
The reasons given for this included concern that, due to the lack of storage capacity for crude oil, oil could leak from wells and cause enormous environmental damage. According to satellite images, a large oil slick can already be seen in the area of Kharg Island. The second reason is the worsening shortage of basic goods due to the blockade on ships entering Iran. Another reason is the cash shortage in Iran's coffers, which has made it difficult for the country to buy basic goods such as wheat, medicine and medical equipment.
In contacts surrounding the official delivery of the document, the Iranians presented a bleak picture of the developing shortages, with what they described as a real fear of hunger in parts of Iran.
Yesterday, Israel Hayom reported on unemployment figures in Iran, which have reached more than 50%, and it turns out that even those who are still employed are earning very little. The US Treasury Department confirmed our report that civil servants are not receiving salaries. According to the information in its possession, entire sectors of self-employed workers, especially those dependent on the internet and advanced industries, have lost significant portions of their income and are, in effect, also unemployed.
The US expressed willingness to open the strait to ships carrying basic goods, and to release Iranian funds frozen abroad, but demanded oversight of those funds to ensure that they are indeed used for humanitarian purposes.
The US Treasury Department further stressed that it is stepping up efforts to locate the accounts and funds of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in order to take control of them and prevent the IRGC, the body Washington says is blocking an agreement, from using those funds. The Americans believe that when senior IRGC officials struggle to pay salaries to their loyalists and feel the financial pressure, this could lead them to soften their hardline positions.
In Washington, officials expected to receive at least a partial response on the nuclear issue, but a US official told Israel Hayom that the previously reported understandings appear to be the heart of the dispute between Iran's political leadership and senior IRGC officials, and therefore were not formally put in writing.
According to the official, any agreement with Iran will be tested on this issue, and the economic blockade is the best leverage for achieving the central goal of the war: neutralizing the Iranian nuclear threat in the long term.
Because of this disagreement, the White House rejected the request to open the Strait of Hormuz to Iranian ships and tankers, at least until guarantees are received that all parts of the regime will accept the terms under discussion on the nuclear issue.
The Americans are prepared, as stated, to ease the naval blockade and allow the partial passage of tankers and ships transporting wheat and other basic goods, but only if there is a guarantee that agreements reached by the political leadership will not be revoked by commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
