Iranian President Says Tehran Will Take Reciprocal Steps If the United States Honors the Agreement ... Hints at Resuming Diplomacy

[Financial News] Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would immediately take reciprocal steps if the United States carries out the ceasefire memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Iran in June. The remarks are seen as leaving open the possibility of restarting the stalled ceasefire talks.
According to IRNA on the 1st local time, Pezeshkian made the comments during a speech at the SCO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, criticizing the United States for breaking the agreement first.
He said Iran signed the ceasefire memorandum after about three months of negotiations mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, but Donald Trump broke his promise by making excessive demands. Iran, he added, has responded in proportion to U.S. violations.
Pezeshkian stated, "Iran is not the aggressor; it has only defended itself." He added, "Without trust, without honoring commitments, and with diplomacy that does not rule out the use of force, lasting peace cannot be achieved."
He condemned the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran as clear violations of the UN Charter and international law. As examples, he cited the assassination of a supreme leader, the bombing of a school in Minab that killed 168 students, and attacks on the Lamarad stadium and key national infrastructure.
He also urged the international community to respond, saying even peaceful nuclear facilities under IAEA monitoring had been attacked. He warned that if such actions become normalized, no country can be certain of its sovereignty or security.
He said the responses of the UN and the UNSC to the attacks on the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Iran were disappointing, and stressed that the UN must also change to fit a multipolar system.
Meanwhile, six months after the war began, ceasefire negotiations between the two sides remain deadlocked. The 60-day deadline set in the provisional agreement reached in June for concluding a final peace treaty, including Iran's nuclear program, also expired last month.
Delegations from mediating countries including Pakistan, Qatar, and Oman recently visited Tehran to resume talks, but they failed to narrow differences on key issues such as shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz. As Iran's seizure and attacks on vessels and the U.S. maritime blockade of Iranian ports intersect, global energy trade is also being disrupted.
As the two countries exchanged military strikes again for the first time in about a month, tensions in the Persian Gulf have also risen. Trump declared an "economic war" on Iran and threatened sanctions on countries that do business with it.
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