Iran says progress on many issues with US but agreement not ‘imminent’
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has been speaking at a news briefing about the contours of a potential deal with the US to end the war.
“It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” he said.
“But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent – no one can make such a claim.”
A potential deal reportedly includes a 60-day ceasefire extension, reopening the strait of Hormuz to international vessels and a plan for further negotiations over Iran’s much contested nuclear programme.
However, the deal has to be approved by Iran’s leadership, including the apparently hard to reach supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, which could take some time.
Key events
Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, has said that time is working against the US and warned that Iran does not respond well to threats.
In a post on X, he wrote:
During the military war, our tactic was an eye for an eye; in the diplomatic war, it is action against action. Do not believe the bluff of the failed president; time is against the Americans.
If they want an agreement, they should negotiate; if they want $6 gas, they should stand firm and bluff until the grass grows under their feet. Iran does not bow to force or threats.
The US has repeatedly raised the prospect of a resumption of attacks on Iran if the negotiations do not bear fruit.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson cast doubt about how trustworthy the US were, saying there are no “guarantees” that Washington will honour whatever deal is agreed upon.
The current US-Israeli war on Iran and the 12-day war launched by Israel last June both began when Iran and the US were engaging in talks over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Esmail Baghaei also told journalists in the briefing that the focus of this phase of talks is not on “the nuclear issue” but “ending the war”, including Israel’s assault on Lebanon.
Iran says progress on many issues with US but agreement not ‘imminent’
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has been speaking at a news briefing about the contours of a potential deal with the US to end the war.
“It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” he said.
“But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent – no one can make such a claim.”
A potential deal reportedly includes a 60-day ceasefire extension, reopening the strait of Hormuz to international vessels and a plan for further negotiations over Iran’s much contested nuclear programme.
However, the deal has to be approved by Iran’s leadership, including the apparently hard to reach supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, which could take some time.
Iran’s top negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, has been reelected as the country’s parliamentary speaker, semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday.
During military conflict Iran’s tactic was “an eye for an eye,” and in diplomatic conflict it is “action for action“, Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson of the Iranian parliament, has said.
In a posting on X on Monday, he said:
During the military war, our tactic was an eye for an eye; in the diplomatic war, it is action against action. Do not believe the bluff of the failed president; time is against the Americans.
If they want an agreement, they should negotiate; if they want $6 gas, they should stand firm and bluff until the grass grows under their feet. Iran does not bow to force or threats.
Iran executed a man over charges related to the anti-government protests that took place nationwide in January, state media reported on Monday.
The individual was identified as Abbas Akbari, Reuters cited state media as saying.
Israeli strikes pounded south and east Lebanon on Sunday despite the ceasefire as the leader of Hezbollah expressed hope for an agreement between Iran and the US that also ends hostilities in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry raised the overall toll in the war since 2 March to 3,123 killed.
It said two people including a paramedic from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed on Sunday in Israeli raids.
A day earlier 11 people including six women and a child were killed in a single strike in the south’s Sir al-Gharbiyeh, the ministry said on Sunday, decrying a “massacre”.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued attacks on each other despite the nominal ceasefire, as mentioned.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said that “God willing, this [Iran-US] agreement will be finalised … and accordingly that we too will be among those included in this agreement” on a full cessation of hostilities.
After Qassem’s speech, US secretary of state Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah of trying to plunge Lebanon “back into chaos”.
Israel said on Monday a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, taking to 23 the number of its troops killed in the war with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
A military statement cited by AFP named him as 19-year-old Sgt Nehoray Leizer of the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, who “fell in combat in southern Lebanon”.
During the incident in which Leizer was killed, “an additional soldier was severely injured”, the Israeli military said separately on Telegram.
A total of 24 Israelis have been killed in the conflict – 23 soldiers and one civilian contractor – since hostilities resumed on 2 March.
Marco Rubio also told reporters in New Delhi that “Israel always has a right to protect itself”.
“If Hezbollah is going to launch missiles or launches missiles at them, Israel has every right to respond to that, or to prevent that from happening,” the US secretary of state was quoted as saying.
That’s always been understood. It’s being understood during the ceasefire.”
Israel and Hezbollah have continued trading strikes during the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which began on 16 April and was recently extended by 45 days.
The potential deal between the US and Iran to end their war also reportedly requires Israel to stop its offensive in Lebanon.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Donald Trump had reaffirmed his support for Israel’s right “to defend itself against threats on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.
Summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Monday that a deal to end the war with Iran could materialise “today”.
His comments came after oil prices plunged and Asian shares rose earlier in the day amid optimism that the US and Iran were close to an agreement that might secure a lasting end to the three-month war and reopen the strait of Hormuz. Oil prices hit a two-week low, with Brent crude futures falling 4.5% to $98.83 a barrel by 11.50pm GMT.
“We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today – I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Rubio said in New Delhi of a potential agreement.
“We have what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the straits,” he said. “It has a lot of support in the Gulf.”
Rubio’s remarks came after Donald Trump tempered expectations of a deal, saying on Sunday that he had told his negotiators “not to rush”. Negotiations with Iran were “proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner”, the US president said.
Middle East officials told the Associated Press on Sunday that the US was close to reaching a deal with Iran that would end the war and reopen the strait, a vital conduit for global energy supplies.
On Sunday Trump said the US blockade on Iranian ships in the Hormuz strait would “remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified and signed”. “Both sides must take their time and get it right,” he added.
As details of the possible agreement emerged over the weekend, critics including Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo said it offered little beyond the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated by former president Barack Obama, from which Trump withdrew during his first term.
Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic member of the Senate foreign relations committee, said the deal’s reported outlines would amount to little more than “the prewar status quo” with Iran.
