After the recent illegal US-Israel military aggression against Iran, the Trump administration has now been forced to concede that despite the possibility of a military victory against Iran, a political victory is quite unlikely. The US has thus resumed diplomatic engagements with Iran again, to reduce hostilities. Even though Iran doesn't trust the US, it recognizes that it is currently in a politically stronger position which has emboldened Iran to make some tough demands to the US for diplomatic considerations. Thus, during the start of this fresh negotiations, Iran has reportedly made a 10-point proposal, to the US, through third-parties:
Gulf News (Apr 2026): Iran’s proposal is a structured framework to end the war permanently rather than temporarily pause it. According to Iranian officials and state media, the key elements include:
- A guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again
- A permanent end to the war, not just a ceasefire
- An end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon and against Iranian allies
- The lifting of all US sanctions on Iran
- Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
- Introduction of a $2 million fee per ship transiting Hormuz
- Revenue from shipping fees to be shared with Oman
- Funds to be used for reconstruction of war-damaged infrastructure
- Establishment of safe passage protocols through Hormuz
- A broader framework to end regional hostilities
There is no clarity yet whether the US has agreed to negotiate on all these points. However, the first 2 points are very likely to be in the negotiations and my question pertains to it - A guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again and A permanent end to the war, not just a ceasefire.
Assuming a diplomatic deal is reached, and the US accepts this demand, what diplomatic measures or mechanism can be made by Iran to ensure the US (and Israel) honours these terms in the future? (Iran has already been abruptly attacked 2 times by the US even as it was negotiating with them in good-faith, and thus the Americans have already proven to be a dishonest and untrustworthy party).
Additional notes:
The answers in Has Russia explained why Ukraine can trust them, given the Budapest memorandum? doesn't satisfactorily provide an answer to this question (i.e. what specific diplomatic measures / mechanism can be taken that will make Iran confident that the particular terms will be realistically honoured). Moreover, the US-Israel-Iran war is different from the Russia-Ukraine war in that neither US or Israel have invaded it (yet) with their armies. And Iran, unlike Ukraine, has more geopolitical clout in the region, despite being militarily weaker than the foes it faces. It thus has more diplomatic room to manoeuvre in a negotiation. A Russia-Ukraine diplomatic solution thus may not necessarily apply to this dispute.
For those commenting about "bias": Stating the facts that the war is illegal and that US sometimes have negotiated with Iran in bad-faith is pertinent to the question as both these factors are important for the context of this Q which is about diplomacy. Many European countries, and other western allies, have not joined the war because they have publicly stated that they fear the war fall fouls of International Law. And, in my opinion, that fact could also be somehow used in the negotiations by Iran (though, I am not sure how) to enforce the terms I have asked about.
what diplomatic measures or mechanism can be made by Iran to ensure the US (and Israel) honours these termsthis seems backwards. It's obvious that it is the US that wants something, regime change with a compliant supplicant. The problem is that the US does not have anyone, zero people to provide enforcement of terms in Iran. That apparently includes the 500,000 Iranians residing in the US. I haven't seen a single person. The current regime exists due to it did fight and forced regime change.