Iran’s chief negotiator warned yesterday the United States is not to be trusted, saying Tehran would not agree to any deal with Washington unless it fully secures Iranian rights.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s remarks came as reports emerged that US President Donald Trump had sent a tougher peace proposal back to Iran and underlined the rift that the parties still need to close.
Any further tweaks to the draft could further delay an agreement to formally end the Middle East war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz after weeks of fraught negotiations marked by sharp rhetoric and occasional flare-ups of violence.
The New York Times and Axios reported on Saturday that Trump had sent back a “tougher” new framework to be considered by Iran, though details remain unclear.
Trump has said his priorities include stopping Iran from any nuclear weapon development and re-opening the Hormuz shipping lane, over which Iran has sought to impose control since the war began.
“The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They’ve agreed to that, and it was very interesting,” he told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in an interview on her Fox News show.
“You look at what happened with Iraq. We did so bad. It was such a foolish thing what we did. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place, by the way,” Trump said, before adding, “We shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability.”
Tehran has previously cast doubt on Trump’s assertions and the sides remain far apart on key issues.
“We will not approve any agreement until we are certain that the rights of the Iranian people have been secured,” Ghalibaf said, in a video broadcast on state television.
According to the Tasnim news agency, “exchanges between Iran and the United States regarding the text of a possible memorandum of understanding are ongoing, with both parties regularly proposing amendments.
“No agreement has yet been finalised, and it is possible that any agreement will be rejected,” it said.
Iran has said it needs the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before engaging in substantive talks on its nuclear programme, dismissing earlier Trump comments that its enriched uranium stockpile would be destroyed as “baseless”, according to Iranian media.
Tehran has also insisted that Lebanon be included in any deal, despite ongoing fighting, with Beirut accusing Israel of a “scorched-earth policy” as it expands operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
After Trump and US officials earlier said they were on the brink of striking a deal, he struck a less urgent tone and hinted at renewed military action in the Fox interview.
“I’m in no hurry,” he said. “Slowly but surely we’re getting, I think, what we want and if we don’t get what we want, we’re going to end in a different way.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had shot down a US military drone “about to enter Iranian territorial waters to conduct hostile operations”, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported, an incident that has not been confirmed by the United States.
The Guard Corps also said 28 vessels, including oil tankers, containers and other commercial ships, passed through the Hormuz over the past 24 hours “with the coordination and security of the IRGC Navy”.
The US military said Saturday it had disabled a Gambia-flagged cargo vessel attempting to sail to an Iranian port by launching a missile into its engine room.
Qatar has rejected proposals for permanent transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, warning that such measures would ultimately drive up costs for consumers worldwide, Al Jazeera reports.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Doha and its Gulf partners oppose any long-term toll system for ships passing through the strategic waterway. “But for certain times that they say they will use it for mine-clearing or some usage of the fees for a temporary time, this is something that is negotiable.”
In a separate development, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have attacked the bases of separatist groups in northern Iraq, Iranian state media said yesterday.
