Iran Says US Can’t Be Trusted as Talks on War-End MOU Wobble Again

Source

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

Negotiations remain deadlocked as the US seeks revisions to the war-end MOU and Iran prepares a counterproposal, with officials saying no final agreement has been reached.
Iran said it is preparing for the possibility of no deal and that the United States cannot be trusted, adding that no agreement will be approved unless the rights of the Iranian people are guaranteed.
Iran is demanding the release of $12 billion in assets and said uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, transit fees and the recovery of oil supplies will persist.

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Iranian Media Say Tehran Plans to Submit Its Own Revisions

Trump Sought Additional Concessions in Draft War-End MOU

Tasnim Source Says Nothing Has Been Finalized

Iran Is Also Preparing for a No-Deal Outcome

President Donald Trump has sought additional concessions in a draft memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war with Iran, and Tehran plans to submit revisions of its own, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported on June 1. Iranian officials said no agreement has been finalized and that they are also preparing for the possibility that the talks collapse.

Iran Prepares Its Own Revisions

Tasnim, a semi-official outlet affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, cited a source familiar with the negotiations as saying Tehran plans to incorporate its own changes into the draft agreement. “The two sides are continuing to exchange language, and Iran, naturally, will also reflect its own revisions in the text,” the source said. “Nothing has been finalized.”

Submitting revisions from the US side does not mean Iran has agreed to accept them. Tehran’s standard is whether the language is something it can directly approve, the source said.

The New York Times earlier reported, citing three officials, that Trump had toughened the terms of a tentative war-end MOU and sent a revised document back to Iran. Axios also reported that Trump had sought additional conditions in the existing draft.

The specific revisions were not disclosed. The US has been pressing for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s abandonment of nuclear weapons and steps related to highly enriched uranium, or HEU. In a recent Fox News interview, Trump said the guarantee he must secure is that there will be no nuclear weapons, adding that Iran had agreed.

Iran, however, has said nothing has been settled. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian state television that talks and message exchanges between Tehran and Washington are continuing. He added that no judgment can be made until a clear outcome emerges.

Until the matter is finalized, stories, speculation and conjecture now circulating should be disregarded, Araghchi said.

Iran Raises Prospect of ‘No Deal’

Iran has also publicly raised the possibility that the negotiations could fail. The source cited by Tasnim said Tehran is fully preparing for a scenario in which no agreement is reached, signaling that the US revisions will not necessarily lead to progress at the negotiating table.

Hard-line comments also emerged inside Iran over ratification of any deal. AFP reported that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told state television that no agreement would be approved until there is confidence that the rights of the Iranian people are fully guaranteed. “The United States cannot be trusted,” he said.

The gap between the two sides is also visible in the nuclear talks. Iran is demanding the release of $12 billion in assets frozen by the US and its allies. It also rejected Trump’s demand that Tehran dispose of its stockpile of enriched uranium, calling it an unfounded claim.

The two sides are also at odds over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said that if a deal is reached, Iran will not charge transit fees to ships passing through the waterway. Iran, by contrast, said no such clause exists.

Iran’s parliament, meanwhile, is discussing control over the strait and the possibility of imposing administrative fees, according to the report. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical route for crude shipments. The longer the negotiations drag on, the longer uncertainty will persist over restoring normal passage through the strait and the recovery of oil supplies.

Military activity outside the talks is continuing as well. CNN, citing satellite-image analysis, reported signs of repair work at parts of Iran’s underground missile bases that were hit by US airstrikes. The report said 50 tunnel entrances across 18 bases appeared to have been restored. Iranian state television said the Revolutionary Guard had blocked a US drone from entering Iranian airspace and shot it down. There has been no confirmation from the US side.

Hong Min-seong, Hankyung.com reporter mshong@hankyung.com