Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have hailed the US military withdrawal from Iraq as a historic victory while rejecting a US peace proposal to end their seven-month war. Meanwhile, Washington has hit international supply networks with new financial sanctions as regional tensions persist and Iran’s currency plunges.
Revolutionary Guard Corps Welcomes U.S. Departure from Iraq
As American forces withdraw from their final bases in Iraq, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described the departure as a significant milestone. The IRGC congratulated the people of Iraq, the united Islamic Resistance Front, and the revolutionary fighters of the Islamic world on this historic victory, calling the exit a result of the Iraqi people’s resistance and determination to preserve their independence.
“The experience of two decades of occupation has shown that the US presence not only did not bring security, but was itself the source of insecurity, terrorism, and instability in West Asia.”
IRGC
Trump Rejects Iranian Peace Proposal Over Strait of Hormuz
On the diplomatic front, the Trump administration has rebuffed a seven-day plan put forward by Tehran to reopen the vital shipping channel in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had floated the proposal at the United Nations, conditioning the waterway’s reopening on the lifting of U.S. port blockades, the release of frozen assets estimated at least $12 billion, and the waiving of oil sanctions.
U.S. officials rejected the terms, asserting that Tehran was negotiating from a position of desperation. United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz told CNN that Iranian negotiators were asking for everything up front without offering sufficient guarantees regarding their nuclear program. President Trump echoed those sentiments, telling reporters that Washington faces a stark choice between military escalation and a durable agreement after pointing out that a failed U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed in Pakistan had been violated.
“We have to make that decision: We blow them up or make a deal. But the time is coming. It’s going to end very soon, one way or another.”
President Donald Trump, via The Independent
Economic Pressures Deepen as Sanctions Expand
Iran’s domestic economy continues to suffer under the strain of the seven-month conflict. Traders in Tehran exchanged more than 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, marking a new record low for the currency just weeks after passing previous thresholds.
Simultaneously, the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled fresh sanctions targeting individuals and companies around the globe that it accuses of being financial facilitators or enablers of the Iranian government.
Meanwhile, Abbas Araghchi appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, stating that his country was fully prepared for the war to be resumed while noting that diplomacy had not yet been abandoned.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps also issued an explicit appeal urging U.S. voters to vote out Congressional allies of President Donald Trump. A 26-page letter published by the Guards on Tuesday calls on the American public to exercise political power to remove incumbent leaders, reject U.S. backing for Israel, and oppose foreign military interventions.
During a Cabinet meeting in Tehran, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani reported on Araghchi’s return from New York, emphasizing that the government would make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition. Iranian officials indicated they received an official U.S. response to Tehran’s latest proposal, though officials did not immediately specify what the response contained.