SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Iran has gone about seven weeks without shipping significant crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time on record, as a US naval blockade cuts off one of Tehran’s main sources of foreign-currency earnings, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Since the United States reinstated its blockade on July 14, no Iranian crude cargoes have successfully passed through the strait to China, Tehran’s only major remaining oil customer, the Reuters report said, citing data from Kpler, Vortexa and TankerTrackers.com.
Hours after Tehran called on Washington to return to the Islamabad memorandum, President Donald Trump dismissed the value of any agreement with Iran, ordered massive strikes on southern Iran and threatened an even larger attack if Tehran retaliates.
Trump told Fox News on Tuesday that he had given Iran “a lot of chances” and said he had little faith in any agreement with Tehran.
“I think an agreement with them isn't worth the paper it's written on. We gave them a lot of chances,” Fox News quoted him as saying.
His remarks came as President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would respond immediately if the United States returned to its commitments under the June agreement, reinforcing Tehran’s position that the memorandum remains the principal route back to diplomacy.
However, Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf struck a harder tone in a video message the same day, saying Iran’s policy, based on Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s directive, was to secure implementation of the memorandum’s conditions.
“If the United States does not fulfill its commitments, we will force it to do so through the language of power,” Ghalibaf said.
He said the Strait of Hormuz would not reopen until Washington implemented its obligations under the agreement and described forcing the United States to comply as what would become its “third defeat.”
Ghalibaf also warned that Iran would respond militarily if Washington intensified its maritime blockade.
“If the enemy intends to prevent Iran from exporting oil from the Persian Gulf, it should know that no one else will be able to export oil from this region either,” he said.
He added that Iran had exported more than 80 million barrels of oil while the Islamabad memorandum was being implemented and had also made progress in importing essential goods.
The renewed emphasis on the memorandum comes amid another escalation in direct US-Iran fighting. The United States struck IRGC positions in southern Iran on Tuesday, two days after attacking Larak Island, prompting Iranian retaliatory attacks.
Trump on Tuesday warned Iran against further retaliation, saying any response would trigger much heavier US strikes and threatening an even larger attack that he said could leave “very little” of the Islamic Republic.
Mediation efforts
Against that backdrop, regional mediators including Pakistan have continued efforts to revive the diplomatic process. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed the memorandum with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit this week and described it as the “only viable pathway” toward lasting peace.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar echoed that position in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday, saying sincere implementation of the agreement by both sides remained the “only way forward.”
The latest diplomatic effort follows Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir’s visit to Tehran last week, when he met Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf and other senior Iranian officials.
Reuters reported that Munir spoke with Trump before traveling to Tehran, with a Pakistani source saying Washington wanted Islamabad to use its influence to bring Iran back toward negotiations.
Iranian officials subsequently said Munir’s visit had made significant diplomatic progress, although Washington has publicly maintained that no negotiations with Tehran are currently underway.
Pakistan is not alone in trying to revive diplomacy. Qatar has also pursued mediation between Tehran and Washington, including discussions over arrangements for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Islamabad memorandum, agreed in June, was intended to halt the conflict and provide a temporary framework for negotiations. It included provisions dealing with the US maritime blockade and commercial navigation through Hormuz.
Article 5 has become particularly important to Tehran. It provides for arrangements ensuring commercial passage through the strait and for Iran and Oman to discuss its future administration and maritime services in accordance with international law.
Iran has increasingly made implementation of those provisions, alongside an end to the US blockade, a condition for fully reopening Hormuz.
The renewed diplomatic push therefore comes as the two sides publicly move further apart: Tehran says it is prepared to return to the memorandum if Washington moves first, while Trump has dismissed the value of an agreement with Iran and threatened substantially heavier military action if Tehran retaliates.
Courtesy: www.reuters.com
