Iran urges US to honour commitments under MoU

Tehran calls for Washington to respect terms of lapsed MoU after attacks send tensions soaring in the Strait of Hormuz.

President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran is ready to return to the terms of an interim agreement reached with the United States in June, which was aimed at ending the war, if Washington also does the same.

Pezeshkian made the comments at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday, a day after the first ⁠exchange of fire between the US and Iran in nearly a month. US forces attacked Larak Island, leading to Iran’s retaliation, with attacks on two airbases used by them in Jordan.

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“I am stating clearly ‌that if the US returns to its commitments under the memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately reciprocate,” Pezeshkian said, according to IRNA, the Iranian state news agency.

In mid-June, Iran and the US signed a Pakistan- and Qatar-brokered MoU which provided for a ceasefire extension, initiating a 60-day period for negotiations aimed at ending the war, which started with US and Israeli ⁠strikes on Tehran on February 28.

Under the terms of the MoU, Iran agreed to clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines and allow ships to pass during the period, and the US agreed to end its naval blockade, lift sanctions, issue waivers for Iranian oil exports and begin work on a reconstruction package for Iran.

However, the ceasefire collapsed within weeks, with the US and Iran again exchanging strikes amid Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the strait. Subsequently, the MoU lapsed last month.

“America’s commitment to the document signed by the president of that country lasted less than two weeks, and that country’s excessive demands and reneging on its commitments began, which still continues,” Pezeshkian said, according to IRNA.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the US “broke its promises” under the MoU.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Tuesday the “sincere implementation” of the MoU signed in June remains the “only way forward” to end the US-Israel war on Iran.

“The return of escalation in the region is in no one’s interest,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference in Doha.

Al-Ansari said Qatar is working with all partners to reach a peaceful solution and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Officials from Pakistan, Qatar and Oman, among others, had travelled to Tehran for talks last week in a renewed diplomatic push before the latest exchange of attacks between Iran and the US.