Iran says Tehran, Washington working to finalise MoU on ending war

Tehran: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran and the United States are working to finalise a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on ending the war.

“At this stage, our focus is on ending the imposed war,” Baghaei told state-run IRIB news agency on Saturday, following a visit to Tehran on Friday by a Pakistani delegation that included Army Chief Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

“Our intention has been to firstly agree on a MoU consisting of 14 clauses,” Baghaei said, noting that “within a period of 30 to 60 days,” they would “reach a final agreement.”

“We are at the stage of finalizing the MoU. The issues that are being discussed are focused on ending the war (on all fronts, including Lebanon),” he said. “Among the major topics to be addressed in the MoU are the cessation of US maritime attacks, or naval blockade as they themselves call it, and other issues pertaining to the release of Iranian frozen assets.”

Clarifying on the 30- to 60-day period brought up in the MoU’s text, Baghaei said it will only begin once the document is formally agreed upon, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We should wait and see what will happen within the next three to four days,” he said, adding that Iran’s nuclear issue is not a focus of the peace talks at this stage.

Baghaei also referred to Pakistan as the principal mediator in the talks, highlighting its “important role” in ensuring the continued exchange of messages between Iran and the United States.

Iran, the United States and Israel reached a ceasefire on April 8 after 40 days of fighting that started with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.

Following the truce, Iranian and US delegations held one round of peace talks in Pakistan’s Islamabad on April 11 and 12, which failed to yield an agreement.

Over the past weeks, the two sides have reportedly exchanged several proposed plans outlining conditions for ending the conflict through Pakistani mediation.

IANS