Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei has asserted that Tehran has no plans to engage in talks with the US and is focused solely on defending the country.
US-Iran talks have stalled as fighting over the strait of Hormuz has intensified. Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran and both nations’ attempts to assert control of the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime threaten to push the region back to all-out war.
Prior to Baghaei’s statement, the US Central Command said that it concluded its latest round of attacks on Iran to take out coastal military installations targeting commercial shipping that lasted 90 minutes.
The US struck a marine control tower in Iran’s coastal city of Chabahar as the military launched a new round of daytime attacks.The US military carried out a wave of strikes hitting dozens of targets overnight, Central Command said, and then resumed attacks Iran during daylight, an unusual move that further signalled the increasing tempo of the assault.
Speaking to reporters, Esmaeil Baghaei said that Iran would honour its international commitments only if the US did the same. “Our commitments remain in effect only as long as the other side fulfills its pledges,” Baghaei said, adding that Iran abandoned its commitments under the MoU after the US failed to uphold its side of the temporary agreement.
“After the other party violated its obligations, we also refrained from implementing ours in any area where it was required.”
Esmaeil Baghaei
Senior cleric Alireza Arafi also called on the government not to return to talks with the US after Trump’s threats to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure. “Officials must not retreat from the legitimate rights of the Islamic nation under the pretext of economic problems, fear of the costs of war or strikes on infrastructure, and they must not continue the path of negotiations and the memorandum with the infidels any further,” Alireza Arafi said in a statement.
Arafi is an influential figure in Iran and a member of the Assembly of Experts, the body tasked with appointing the supreme leader. He also serves as a jurist on the Guardian Council, which vets electoral candidates. After the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Arafi served on the interim leadership council, which was dissolved when Khamenei’s son Mojtaba succeeded him.
The latest comments mark another setback for efforts to reduce tensions through dialogue. Relations between Iran and the United States have remained strained for decades, with disputes over Iran’s nuclear programme, regional security, sanctions and military activities continuing to dominate bilateral relations.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran’s bridges and power plants next week if Tehran did not return to talks. Under international law, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure is prohibited and generally constitutes a war crime.
According to Iran’s Health Ministry spokesperson, at least 35 people have been killed and 300 wounded in the US attacks on Iran this month. Most casualties have been reported in Iran’s southern provinces. Iran’s Education Ministry has delayed exams for students across six provinces after the renewed US attacks.The ministry said “final exams for all academic tracks in the 12th grade” were postponed. The exams had been scheduled to take place on Thursday and Saturday. Earlier, the ministry announced that it had relocated examination centres near sensitive or military sites to safer locations.
US Adds More Sanctions Against Iranians
Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department sanctioned more entities in Iran under “counterterrorism” designations.The department has sanctioned Behrouz Namazi, who it says is linked to the IRGC. Namazi’s company, Nika Jet Company, was also added to the sanctions list.
The sanctions issued today by the US Treasury Department has targeted people and companies the department says were part of an international network helping Iran procure weapons, Reuters is reporting.The sanction targets include Iranian and Russian nationals, as well as entities based in Iran, Russia and Nigeria.
The Treasury claims that Wednesday’s sanctions targets “exemplify Iran’s use of foreign aviation and transport firms, financial conduits, and travel coordinators to obscure the IRGC’s role in illicit procurement and to move material and personnel globally.”
They add to US actions in May against individuals and companies, including several in China and Hong Kong, over accusations of aiding Iran’s weapons sector. In June, the US imposed sanctions on 11 people and entities for helping weapons procurement by the IRGC and the Iranian military.
