Tehran: Iran will not transfer its enriched uranium to a foreign country, and sending it to the United States has never been under consideration, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.
Baghaei, speaking on state-run IRIB television, said that recent public statements by Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi were made within the framework of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States announced on April 8, not as signals of a new diplomatic opening.
Earlier on Friday, Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz would remain “completely open” to commercial shipping for the duration of the current truce between Iran and the United States, Xinhua news agency reported.
Baghaei moved to clarify the foreign minister’s position, saying that following a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday, Tehran chose to apply safe-passage conditions outlined in its agreement with Washington to vessels transiting the strait.
“We have reached no new agreement,” he said. “The ceasefire agreement is the one announced on April 8.”
He accused the United States of failing, from the outset of the truce, to honor a commitment to extend its terms to Lebanon, a provision Iran insists was included in the April 8 agreement. Washington and Jerusalem have rejected that characterization.
Baghaei also warned that Iran would take “countermeasures” if a United States naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz persisted. He said no talks on extending the ceasefire had taken place, and that mediation efforts led by Pakistan remained focused on ending the conflict and protecting Iran’s interests.
Iran tightened its grip on the strait beginning February 28, when it barred safe passage to vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following joint strikes on Iranian territory. The United States subsequently imposed its own blockade, preventing ships traveling to and from Iranian ports from transiting the waterway after peace negotiations in Islamabad collapsed over the weekend.
Axios reported Friday, citing people familiar with the talks, that a second round of United States-Iran negotiations is expected to take place in Pakistan this weekend, most likely on Sunday.
(IANS)
