Iran called the deal to end the Middle East war “a declaration of America’s defeat” on Wednesday.
“The Islamabad understanding was not the result of pressure and coercion, but rather the result of the resistance and authority of the brave Iranian nation,” Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday of the deal, which was finalised through Pakistan’s mediation.
“That is why, the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding became a declaration of America’s defeat,” he said, adding that security in the Middle East must be ensured by the countries of the region.
Iran has said it plans to charge what it calls maritime service fees for crossing the strait, as opposed to tolls, a plan fiercely opposed by the United States.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iran had told Washington it would not charge for passage.
“Iran has informed the US that... there are ‘NO TOLLS, NO INSURANCE COSTS, & NO OTHER CHARGES OF ANY KIND BEING SOUGHT OR RECEIVED BY IRAN ON SHIPS TRAVELING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ’,” Trump said, without specifying whether the commitment would outlast their 60-day negotiating period to reach a permanent settlement.
“We see the future of the region not in confrontation but in interaction and not in elimination but in coexistence,” Ghalibaf said.
PEACE IN LEBANON
Iran’s chief negotiator also reiterated that peace in Lebanon, which was drawn into the war when Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel, was a fundamental pillar of reaching a definitive agreement with the US.
“For us, the ceasefire in Lebanon has been and is as important as the ceasefire in Iran, and the end of the war in Lebanon has been as important as the end of the war in Iran,” Ghalibaf said.
In Lebanon, where Iran insisted a fragile ceasefire was a precondition for a broader agreement, people in areas worst affected by Israeli bombing were struggling to clear rubble from their streets.
In the beachside city of Tyre, 40-year-old Hussein Hassan said he had fled with his family to north Lebanon during the war but returned this week to reopen his barbershop. Tyre residents “love life and work. We shake off the dust and rise up again like the phoenix,” he said proudly, while welcoming customers to his shop, one of its walls cracked and its glass facade blown away.
Israeli troops remain deployed in parts of Lebanon following a ground invasion, and on Wednesday, the military carried out an air strike in a border area targeting what it said were two Hezbollah operatives who posed a threat to its troops.
NO DATE SET
Pakistan said on Wednesday that technical talks will resume next week between the US and Iran, with no date yet confirmed.
One of the key sticking points has been Iran’s nuclear programme, long a source of friction with Western powers who suspect Tehran is building a bomb, a claim it has systematically denied.
On Wednesday, Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said inspections of Iranian nuclear sites were “going to happen”.
But the Iranian official overseeing technical discussions in negotiations with the US reiterated that no agreement has been reached on inspections. — AFP
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