Esmail Baqaei said on Saturday that Pakistan has played an important role as the main mediator of the talks and the goal of the delegation’s trip to Tehran was to continue the exchange of messages between Iran and the United States.
“Our focus at this stage is on ending the imposed war based on Iran’s 14-point proposal, which has been discussed and views (about it) have been exchanged.”
He said that in the past few days, some points have been discussed and proposals have been made that are still being considered.
Regarding the possibility of reaching an agreement with the United States, Baqaei said, “We may say that we are very far and (at the same time) very close to an agreement. On the one hand, we have the experience of the American side contradicting itself and changing their views. They have expressed contradictory positions many times. We cannot be completely sure that this approach will not change.
“On the one hand, in the talks between the two sides, the trend is towards closer views. Not in the sense that we can reach an understanding on such important issues but in the sense that we can reach a mutually acceptable solution based on a set of parameters.”
The spokesman went on to say that Iran’s intention was to first reach an understanding on an MoU consisting of 14 paragraphs, and in this MoU, the most important issues that are necessary to end the imposed war and the issues that are of fundamental importance to Iran should be included.
“Within a period of 30 to 60 days, the details of the issues should be discussed and finally an agreement should be reached.”
He emphasized, “We are in the stage of finalizing this memorandum of understanding. The issues that are being discussed at this stage are focused on ending the war. The issue of ending the US naval aggression and issues related to the release of blocked Iranian assets will be addressed in this memorandum of understanding.”
Regarding the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, Baqaei said the Strait of Hormuz has nothing to do with the US.
“A mechanism should be defined between us and Oman as coastal countries. We are in talks with the relevant organizations. We are aware of the importance of this waterway for the international community. The international community knows that the insecurity is caused by the aggressive actions of the United States and the Zionist regime. They understand that the responsible action of Iran and Oman to create a mechanism for the safe passage of ships through this waterway is in the interest of the international community.”
He added, “What we are doing is in line with protecting the national interests of Iran and Oman as coastal countries and is also aimed at ensuring safe shipping. From this perspective, we expect all countries that attach importance to free trade and maritime safety to understand this situation.”
Regarding the nuclear issue, Baqaei said, “We are not talking about the details of the nuclear issue at this stage. We know that our nuclear issue was a pretext for two aggressive wars against the Iranian nation. At the same time, we were subjected to illegal attacks during the nuclear negotiations. Therefore, we wisely decided to give priority at this stage to the issue that is urgent, which is ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.”