Photo: Collected
Tehran wants to return to the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States last June, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said. Yet only a few days ago he had said Iran would not bow to pressure from Washington.
News agency AFP reported this.
Pezeshkian welcomed China’s stance in favour of reviving that understanding. In a post on social media platform X on Friday, he wrote, ‘Iran also supports this position and stresses the importance of returning to that understanding.’
Diplomatic efforts have been going on for several months to stop the Middle East war that began with the surprise attack by the United States and Israel on Iran in late February. However, these efforts have not made any major progress so far.
The purpose of last June’s understanding was to pave the way for a comprehensive peace deal. But it collapsed soon after it was signed.
Hopes had arisen that talks between the two countries might resume around this week’s session of the UN General Assembly. But in a strongly worded speech at the United Nations on Wednesday, Pezeshkian said Iran would in no way surrender to the United States.
A day later, in an interview with Fox News, he said Iran ‘does not want to continue this war’.
However, he remarked that it is the United States that must take the initiative to stop the war.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. However, there was no significant immediate progress in those talks.
