The 60-day window that Iran and the US agreed on in mid-June to negotiate an end to the war and a deal on Iran's nuclear programme "is no longer relevant" following repeated US violations of the agreement, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday, 17 August.
Signed on 18 June, the agreement, a memorandum of understanding (MoU), was meant to also kickstart a process whereby Iran would ensure the return of shipping through the strait of Hormuz back to pre-war levels within 30 days, and allow for the passage of ships with no charge for 60 days. That 60-day window will have formally closed today.
But disagreements over control and administration of the strait of Hormuz in the days and weeks that followed saw Iran target several vessels as they crossed they key waterway, resulting in the agreement's collapse in early July.
"What we had in that agreement [was] a 60-day period which we would use to discuss two issues: The lifting of sanctions [on Iran] and the nuclear issue," Baghaei told reporters in his weekly press briefing in Tehran. "If we did not arrive at a solution in this period, we could then extend it."
"But we did not even begin the talks, because just weeks after the MoU was signed, the US began violating it," he said. "So, talk of this 60 days, is no longer relevant."
Hostilities in the region intensified in the weeks after the MoU collapsed, as the US began targeting key infrastructure as well as military and logistical sites in the south of Iran. Iran responded with attacks on facilities in several of its Arab Gulf neighbours that it said were being used to launch the US attacks.
The daily tit-for-tat attacks have since wound down, though sporadic Iranian attacks on shipping in the region do continue. This past week, Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc reported attacks on several of its vessels as they transited the strait.
Iran-Oman keep talking on Hormuz
Negotiations between Tehran and Washington appear to have come to a complete standstill, although Baghaei said some regional countries are continuing efforts to mediate between the sides and reduce tensions in the region.
"Countries like Pakistan and Qatar are making efforts and playing a role," Baghaei said. But "the main challenge is not mediation. The issue goes back to the miscalculations and insistence of the US to persist with methods and approaches that have failed many times before."
"The US' repeated breaches of the agreement have damaged the Pakistani mediation efforts," he said. Yet despite that deadlock, Baghaei said talks with Oman over the future administration of the waterway continue and are making progress.
"The views are being exchanged, and both sides have shown, to this point, that they are determined to develop a mechanism to oversee and safeguard the interests of both sides, and also cater to the considerations of international shipping [through the strait]," he said.
Baghaei said the mechanism will be finalised as part of a package: "a roadmap, alongside a joint statement" with Oman.
