Iran has put a price on ending a war that has run for roughly six months, and says the bill is already sitting in Washington.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, laid out the terms in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, September 19, 2026. "Our conditions are an end to the war on all fronts, the release of our frozen funds and an end to the naval blockade," he said.
The message did not travel directly. "We remain in contact with the mediator Qatar, which has conveyed our conditions to Washington with the aim of ending the war. We are awaiting President Trump's response," Rezaei said. The Jerusalem Post reported that Pakistani intermediaries are also part of the channel, though Iran's foreign ministry later said an upcoming visit to Tehran by Pakistan's interior minister would cover bilateral matters only.
What Tehran is asking for
Beyond the three headline demands, Al Jazeera reported a fuller list circulating on Sunday: an end to the war on every front, with Lebanon named specifically; the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets; the lifting of the naval blockade on Iranian ports; an end to what Tehran calls US interference in its internal affairs; an end to US cooperation with "the opponents of our revolution"; and a halt to all US strikes on Iranian territory.
Rezaei paired the offer with a warning. "It is in Washington's interest to accept these conditions," he said, adding that "Trump's threats will not achieve any results" and that Iran is prepared for a "decisive war." He also described the conflict as unresolved in practice: "in practical terms the war is still going on."
The strait stays shut
On Sunday morning, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz — the channel through which roughly a fifth of the world's crude normally moves — would remain closed until Iran's conditions are met. That links the diplomatic track directly to the energy market: the terms are not only a political demand but the stated condition for reopening a waterway whose closure is being felt at fuel pumps well beyond the region.
Rezaei drew a line at the other chokepoint. Iran would not move to close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, he said, calling that "a Yemeni matter." He also said Iran had come close to an understanding with Oman, a deal he described as ready but possibly requiring regional endorsement before it can be made public.
Washington has not answered
No formal US response had been issued as of Sunday. David Des Roches, a Pentagon analyst, told Al Jazeera that Washington is likely to read the list as a demand for surrender rather than an opening bid — which is the difficulty with conditions published in an interview: each one becomes a position the side that states it can no longer quietly drop.
A Congress already voting against the war
The terms arrive at a White House that has been losing votes on the war at home. On September 15, the House of Representatives passed a war powers resolution on Iran, H. Con. Res. 93, by 220 to 204, with seven Republicans joining Democrats. It was the third time the chamber had voted on ending the hostilities, and the first time such a measure cleared it.
Reporting from Al Jazeera, The Jerusalem Post and the Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives.
