Iranian Foreign Ministry: "No Final Agreement Without Cease-Fire in Lebanon"

"Israeli Withdrawal and End of Hostilities Are Preconditions for Negotiations"

Iran, which is in follow-up negotiations with the United States after the end of hostilities, is ramping up pressure by making a complete cease-fire on the Lebanese front its top condition. Iran maintains that unless the issue of Lebanon is resolved, there will be no progress in opening the Strait of Hormuz or in reaching a final agreement.

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated on June 21 (local time) via the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), "Iran will very closely monitor the United States’ fulfillment of its commitments," adding, "The commencement of negotiations for a final agreement is premised on the implementation of the key provisions of the cease-fire memorandum of understanding (MOU)."

He explained that the follow-up meeting between the U.S. and Iran, being held in Switzerland on this day, is intended to assess the status of the MOU’s implementation, which was signed on June 18. He further emphasized that, according to Article 13 of the MOU, the start of final negotiations depends on the implementation of Articles 1, 4, 5, 10, and 11.

In particular, spokesperson Baghaei identified Article 1—"ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon"—as a core condition, declaring, "If this article is not fulfilled, it will not be possible to move to the stage of final agreement negotiations."

He also stated that the issue of ending hostilities in Lebanon would be the top agenda item at the talks, and that plans for the normalization of Iranian oil exports (Article 10) and the release of frozen assets (Article 11) would also be discussed.

Iran is also linking the issue of opening the Strait of Hormuz to the situation in Lebanon. A member of Iran’s negotiation team told TASS news agency, "If Israel’s military actions continue in Lebanon and Lebanon’s territorial integrity is not guaranteed, no other negotiations can move forward."

The official further warned, "If the United States does not implement Article 1, it is equivalent to failing to fulfill the promise of opening the Strait of Hormuz in Article 5," adding, "In that case, the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.