Iran is ready to conduct peace talks with the US if the Americans abide by commitments agreed in June, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has claimed.
Speaking a day after the first direct exchange of fire between the US and Iran in more than a month, he said Tehran would "immediately reciprocate" if the US returns to its commitments under the June 17 framework for peace talks.
Mr Pezeshkian, speaking on Tuesday at a summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, accused the US of breaching the interim agreement.
The framework agreement lasted less than two weeks before Washington began making “excessive demands” and failing to honour its commitments, said Mr Pezeshkian, who had signed up to it with US President Donald Trump.
“It is self-evident that the violation of the US commitments was met with an appropriate response from Iran,” Mr Pezeshkian said, without elaborating on the measures taken by Tehran.
President of Iran
“But I state explicitly that if the US returns to its commitments under the aforementioned memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take reciprocal action,” he added in a speech at the summit broadcast on state television.
His comments came as Washington stepped up economic pressure on Tehran following a fresh exchange of fire between the US and Iran, with Mr Trump saying sweeping new sanctions were “kicking in really strongly”.
The US and Iran traded fire overnight between Sunday and Monday for the first time in more than a month after the American forces carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran attacked US bases in Jordan in retaliation.
US scope for diplomacy
Mr Trump told Fox News the US would retaliate, saying: “We’re going to hit them hard. There will be a response.” But he also suggested there was still scope for diplomacy, saying Iran “want[s] to meet so badly”.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking as G20 finance ministers met in North Carolina, warned that those engaging with Tehran risked being cut off from the dollar-based financial system.
“I would think that they are lashing out kinetically because they are losing economically,” Mr Bessent said, as Washington sought international support for its campaign to sever Iran’s financial lifelines.
The latest military exchanges followed what the US Central Command described as “limited, precise action” after detecting Iranian preparations to lay new mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Jordan said it intercepted eight missiles after Iran attacked US bases in the kingdom. Diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Anwar Gargash, said the Iranian attacks on Gulf states and Jordan had “proven to be a failure”.
Mr Pezeshkian is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit in Bishkek later on Tuesday.
