Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signaled that Tehran could take immediate reciprocal steps if the United States implements a memorandum of understanding on ending the war, leaving room for a resumption of truce negotiations.
Speaking at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on the 1st, Pezeshkian said the United States was the first to break the agreement reached in June, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.
The memorandum of understanding on ending the war was produced after about three months of negotiations mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, he said, but U.S. President Donald Trump broke his promise by making excessive demands. Iran has responded to those violations only in proportion, he said.
Pezeshkian also said Iran was not an aggressor and had only defended itself. Lasting peace cannot be achieved through diplomacy that does not rule out the use of force while lacking good faith and the fulfillment of commitments, he said. Policies based on pressure and threats instead undermine diplomatic efforts, he added, saying that if the United States returns to its obligations under the earlier memorandum, Iran will immediately take corresponding measures.
He described the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran as violations of the United Nations Charter and international law, listing specific damage including an attempt to assassinate the supreme leader, the bombing of a school in Minab that killed 168 students, and strikes on a stadium in Lamerd and on key infrastructure.
He pointed in particular to attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities under the monitoring of the International Atomic Energy Agency, asking which country could be confident of its own sovereignty and security tomorrow if such acts became the norm because the international community failed to respond. He also expressed disappointment at the response shown by the United Nations and the Security Council to attacks on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, urging the organization to reclaim its core role in maintaining peace in an era of multipolarity.
More than six months after the war broke out, truce diplomacy between Washington and Tehran remains deadlocked. The 60-day deadline for concluding a final peace treaty, set at the time of the interim agreement in June, expired last month.
Mediators including Pakistan, Qatar and Oman recently visited Tehran again, but gaps have not narrowed on core issues such as shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait, which was open before the war, is now squeezing global energy trade as Iranian ship controls and attacks overlap with a U.S. naval blockade.
Trump has declared an "economic war," warning of sanctions on countries that do business with Iran. Military tension in the Gulf has also escalated as the two sides exchanged fire again in the past month for the first time in a month.
