Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that his government is prepared to return to talks and resume honoring its commitments under the June 17 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which Iran violated by attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Pezeshkian larded his comments at the Shanghai Co-Operation Organization (SCO) in Kyrgyzstan with Iran’s usual rhetoric about the U.S. being the party that violated the MOU, triggering an “appropriate response from Iran.”
“But I state explicitly that if the U.S. returns to its commitments under the aforementioned memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take reciprocal action,” he added.
Pezeshkian complained to the SCO that American and Israeli actions against Iran were violations of international law, without addressing Iran’s deliberate and deadly attacks on civilian ships and ground targets. He urged the SCO to form its own bank, launch its own security initiatives, and assemble an energy consortium, all of which would be very helpful for Iran as it struggles to survive under heavy U.S. sanctions.
Regime spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani echoed Pezeshkian’s comments in a press conference on Tuesday, saying Iran was prepared to make “reciprocal” gestures if the U.S. returns to diplomacy — and warning Washington not to “play with the lion’s tail” by antagonizing Iran.
Pezeshkian’s hand has steadily weakened over the past month as the U.S. Navy asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s economy withered under the American blockade.
Iran’s attempts to lash out violently this week were thwarted, as American airstrikes wiped out Iranian mine launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s weak counterattacks against Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were intercepted.
Iran next tried attacking two oil tankers loaded with Saudi crude as they sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, but neither ship appears to have suffered substantial damage in the Monday night terrorist attacks.
“I would think that they are lashing out kinetically because they are losing economically,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers in North Carolina.
Iran’s anemic currency, the rial, is now in total free-fall, trading at about 2.14 million rials to the U.S. dollar. Fuel shortages are causing lines that stretch for miles outside gas stations in Iranian cities. The regime is muttering about raising the subsidized price of gasoline to consumers, a move that has almost invariably triggered mass public uprisings in the past.
The chief of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, on Monday preemptively threatened another murderous crackdown on the Iranian people if they dare to rise up.
“If the enemies seek to disrupt the security of the people at home and make a mistake, they can be certain that they will face a stronger, firmer, and more decisive response than in any previous period,” Mohseni-Ejei seethed.
