Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has proposed a roadmap to end the US-Israel war on Iran amid rising tensions across the Middle East.
Zarif’s plan, published Friday in Foreign Affairs magazine, goes “beyond a temporary ceasefire.”
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The war, which began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28, has spread across the Middle East and shaken the global economy as Tehran attacks neighboring countries, claiming to target U.S. assets there and restricting shipping movements in the Strait of Hormuz.
Regional hostilities showed no signs of abating a day after US President Donald Trump said Iran would face “hell” if it did not reach a deal within 48 hours.
Against this backdrop, Zarif’s road map said prolonging the conflict, even if Iran considers itself successful in the war, would only result in further loss of civilian life and destruction of infrastructure, although potentially “psychologically satisfying” for Tehran.
Therefore, Iran should offer to “impose limits on its nuclear program” under international supervision and “reopen the Strait of Hormuz in return for the lifting of all sanctions,” Zarif wrote.
Since the war began, Iran has effectively blocked a key waterway through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas supplies pass.
Nuclear restrictions on Iran would include a promise never to pursue nuclear weapons and a commitment to blend its entire enriched uranium stockpile to bring enrichment levels below 3.67%, Zarif said.
According to estimates by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is estimated to have enriched about 440 kg (970 pounds) of uranium by 60%, which is enough to quickly enrich the uranium needed to produce nuclear weapons to 90%.
Zarif said Trump’s call for zero enrichment was a “fantastic” idea.
Iran must also “accept a mutual non-aggression pact with the United States,” under which both countries promise not to attack each other in the future, the former minister said.
He added that the United States should end all sanctions and UN Security Council resolutions against Iran.
regional consortium
Zarif also outlined the potential role of regional and international actors.
He suggested that China and Russia, along with the United States, could form a regional fuel enrichment consortium with Iran and its Gulf neighbors at West Asia’s only enrichment facility and help Iran move all enrichment material and equipment there.
Zarif also suggested that Gulf countries and UN Security Council powers Egypt, Pakistan and Turkiye should form a regional security framework to ensure “non-aggression, cooperation and freedom of navigation,” including measures to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
“To further consolidate peace, Iran and the United States should initiate mutually beneficial trade, economic and technological cooperation,” Zarif added.
The Iranian politician said the roadmap would help Trump by giving him a “proper start” and an opportunity to make his case for peace.
“Emotions are running high and both sides are boasting of their victories on the front lines, but history best remembers the peacemakers,” he said.
Although Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt have been working for direct talks and the United States has presented Iran with a 15-point plan for a ceasefire, there are no signs of progress on the diplomatic front.
What about the Gulf?
Officials in the Gulf state reacted to Zarif’s offer, accusing them of overlooking Tehran’s attacks on its neighbor.
“To read Mr. Javad Zarif’s article in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ignores one of the key flaws in Iran’s strategy: its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors.” Anwar Gargash, foreign affairs adviser to the President of the United Arab Emirates, spoke at X on Saturday.
“Thousands of missiles and drones targeting infrastructure, civilians and even mediators are not power, but arrogance and strategic failure. The Arab world has seen this before: destruction is peddled as victory,” he added.
Former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani also wrote about Zarif’s plan to X on Sunday, saying he “agreed with many parts” and had taken a “clever” approach.
Still, he walked back, scolding Iran for its Gulf aggression, saying the war had “led us all down a more complex and dangerous path.”
“We may believe we have made progress on some fronts, and there have been temporary tactical gains, but the cost has been clear: the loss of important friends in the region and the destruction of trust built over many years,” he wrote.
“Today we need voices like yours (Zarif) to unite within Iran to propose a solution to this war,” he added.
