ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran's chief negotiator said Tuesday that Tehran will not move forward with the remaining provisions of the newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States until five key clauses, including the end of the war in Lebanon, are fully implemented, before his interview on Iranian state television was abruptly cut off.
In an interview with Iran's state broadcaster IRIB, Iranian Parliament Speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the current talks with Washington are focused on implementing the agreement rather than negotiating its terms.
"Negotiations reached a conclusion. Now, we are coordinating and holding dialogue to realize them within the specified timeline,” Ghalibaf stated, affirming that “Until the five clauses of the agreement are fully stabilized and finalized, we will not move to the next stage of implementing the other provisions.”
His remarks come as the US and Iran delegations are set to hold separate technical talks with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha on Wednesday, a senior official in US President Donald Trump’s administration confirmed to Rudaw on Tuesday.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari also confirmed during a Tuesday press briefing that “there is currently no scheduled high-level meeting between the US and Iran, and no direct meeting with Iranian officials is planned in the coming days.”
The Islamabad MoU came months after the US and Israel launched a wide-scale aerial campaign against Iran on February 28, striking thousands of targets across the country over six weeks of hostilities. In response, Tehran carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East targeting alleged US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - and launched retaliatory attacks against Israel.
Ghalibaf said negotiations over the 14-point MoU had concluded after months of talks, and that ongoing meetings involving Iran, the United States, Qatar and Pakistan were aimed solely at overseeing implementation, of which an end to attacks on Lebanon and uranium enrichment were key conditions.
"Our red lines are clear: enrichment is our right. These are non-negotiable; they are the components of our power and our guarantees against American excessive demands," Ghalibaf said, insisting that Tehran's position remains unchanged, rejecting any compromise on uranium enrichment.
The Iranian official described the agreement as a major diplomatic achievement, claiming it secured commitments to end hostilities in Lebanon, lift the US naval blockade on Iran, regulate the Strait of Hormuz, ease restrictions on Iranian oil exports, and release frozen Iranian assets.
"The US has guaranteed and committed that the war in Lebanon must end, no military operations should take place, people should return to their lands, and Lebanese national sovereignty must prevail over its territory. This is a very big victory," Ghalibaf said.
Despite describing the agreement as a success, Ghalibaf warned that Tehran remains prepared for military confrontation if the terms are violated.
"I have said many times: Negotiation is a method of struggle. When we negotiate with the US, we are not negotiating with a friend; we are negotiating with an unfaithful enemy," he said.
