Tehran [Iran], July 1 (ANI): Iran’s Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that Tehran will respond to “violations of the understanding” to end the recent war, saying incidents in the Persian Gulf amount to breaches of the ceasefire while affirming that dialogue with the United States under the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is continuing.
According to ISNA news agency, speaking in a televised interview on Tuesday, Ghalibaf said, “We consider the events that are taking place in the Persian Gulf these nights to be a violation of the understanding to end the war, and we will definitely react to it, and naturally, the other side will react as well.”
Explaining the current stage of negotiations, he said, “If I want to explain the conditions on the ground now, we must first correct this sentence and say ‘regarding the realisation of the end of the war’ instead of ‘in relation to the war’ because we signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).”
Ghalibaf said that the MoU had already produced tangible results, including the lifting of the naval blockade.
“This memorandum of understanding showed its first effects in two actions that happened on the evening of Sunday, June 14, or in fact, in the early hours of Monday, June 15; first, the tweet of the Prime Minister of Pakistan announcing the end of the war, and immediately Trump issued a post and the naval blockade was lifted; a blockade that itself was a violent and indescribable war,” he said.
Calling the lifting of the blockade a major achievement, Ghalibaf added, “The most severe type of war is a naval blockade, meaning that people and people’s bread have been surrounded. This blockade was lifted, and it was one of the great successes of this memorandum that happened after that, the final digital signing was carried out.”
He said Iran and the United States are now focused on implementing the agreement. “What is happening now on the front between the United States and us is that we signed this memorandum of understanding with the facilitating role of the mediators, namely Pakistan and Qatar. We are pursuing the dialogue to fulfil Article 13 of this Memorandum of Understanding,” Ghalibaf said.
Recalling the scale of the conflict, he said, “We were engaged in a war that was both geographically extensive and extensive; apart from the fact that Iran itself is geographically extensive, it was a full-scale war, and we were facing an all-out war on land, sea and air, and internal threats and internal security. The resistance front is also very extensive; from southern Lebanon to Yemen and Iraq.”
Article 13 of the MoU states, ” After signing this MOU, and subject to the beginning of the implementation of paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 10 and 11 of this MOU, and the continuing implementation of these measures, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will start negotiations regarding the final deal exclusively on the other paragraphs.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, as quoted by Iranian state media Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), said that Tehran is not scheduled to meet US officials in the immediate future.
“Basically, we have no plans to meet with the American side at any level in the next few days,” the spokesperson said.
He clarified that discussions scheduled in Doha are not political negotiations with Washington, but rather technical-level talks linked to the implementation of previously agreed understandings, including issues related to frozen Iranian assets.
“What will be done in Doha tomorrow is a discussion on the implementation of clauses of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s frozen assets, which is with the Qatari side,” he said.
Baghaei further emphasised that Iran would continue to honour its commitments only if the other parties did the same. “We will implement our commitments as long as the other side implements its commitments,” he said. (ANI)
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