IRAN has dismissed claims that an agreement with the US is imminent or that the nuclear file and management of the Strait of Hormuz are on the table.
Speaking at his weekly press conference on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said understandings had been reached on much of what is being discussed, but stopped well short of confirming a deal.
‘It is true that we have reached understandings on many of the subjects under discussion, but no one can claim that the signing of an agreement is imminent,’ he said.
His remarks followed comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told reporters in Delhi: ‘We thought we might have some news last night. Maybe today… I wouldn’t read too much into it. It takes a little while to hear back from Iran.’
A reported memorandum of understanding is said to involve a 60-day ceasefire extension, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a framework for further talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, but Baghaei pushed back, calling much of the reported detail ‘a combination of speculation’ and insisting the actual memorandum concerns ending the war and lifting the US’s illegal naval blockade against the Islamic Republic, including Washington’s efforts to complicate transit through the Strait.
The blockade, he said, ‘must stop’, while Iran would take measures to ensure safe transit through the waterway.
‘The focus of the negotiations is on ending the war, and at this stage we are not discussing nuclear issues,’ Baghaei said. On Hormuz, he was equally firm, telling reporters that ‘how this region should be managed concerns the littoral states’ and that Tehran and Muscat were jointly working on a mechanism to secure safe transit.
‘We understand that the security of the Strait of Hormuz is a concern for the entire world,’ he said, adding that Iran was ‘not seeking to impose tolls’, though services and environmental protection naturally involved costs.
Responding to British and French proposals on managing the Strait, he said: ‘No country other than Iran and Oman is present in the Strait of Hormuz. It is the responsibility of Iran and Oman to formulate the mechanism for safe transit.’
Discussions tied to the 14-point memorandum would continue over a 60-day period, he said, with no timetable fixed for finalising the understanding.
‘What matters to us is securing national interests, and whenever we reach a result, we will announce it.’ Baghaei also criticised inconsistency in US policymaking, saying contradictory positions within short periods complicate the negotiations.
He confirmed no visits were currently planned between Iranian and Pakistani officials, despite Islamabad’s mediating role, and said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s planned trip to New York had been cancelled because of visa-related issues.
Trump had suggested over the weekend that the two sides were closing in on a deal, before posting on Truth Social that he had told his negotiators ‘not to rush into’ one.
Markets responded to the prospect of an agreement, with oil prices falling sharply and Asian stock markets rising yesterday.
The reported terms have nonetheless divided Trump’s Republicans.
Senator Lindsey Graham, normally a close Trump ally, criticised any arrangement that would leave Iran perceived as a dominant force in the region, remarking: ‘It makes one wonder why the war started to begin with.’
Trump dismissed his critics as ‘losers’, saying ‘the deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal.’
Even if an agreement is announced in the coming days, the practical effects are unlikely to be immediate.
Lars Jensen, chief executive of Vespucci Maritime and former director of Maersk, said it could be months before shipping supply chains return to anything ‘physically in the same shape as they were before the crisis’, with operators remaining ‘cautious and hesitant’ about major operational changes in the interim.
Baghaei said any agreement aimed at ending the war would have to cover all fronts, including Lebanon, warning that ‘one should expect nothing from Israel except the sabotage of any process’, a reference to repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty and other attempts to derail diplomatic tracks.
On the prospect of renewed aggression, he said Iran would not rule out any option in its own defence, and that the Iranian armed forces would respond ‘with greater intensity’ to any future attack or miscalculation.
The US and Israel launched their war of aggression against Iran on 28 February, triggering conflict across West Asia.
