Details regarding a “Memorandum of Understanding” concerning a possible peace agreement between Iran and the United States were made public on Wednesday by Iranian media, following the visit of Ghalibaf and Araghchi to Qatar, which is mediating the diplomatic effort to end the war.
The key points of the memorandum revealed by the Iranians include the following:
- American military forces will withdraw from the region surrounding Iran.
- The US Navy will lift the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran committed to restoring the number of commercial vessels passing through the Strait to pre-war levels within one month.
- Iranian state media report that military ships are not included in the draft agreement.
- The management and navigation guidance through the Strait of Hormuz will be carried out by Iran in cooperation with Oman.
- If the final agreement is reached within 60 days, it will be approved in the form of a binding UN Security Council resolution.
In their reports, Iranian media stress that “the framework of the ‘Islamabad Memorandum’” (as they call it) has not yet been finalized and that Iran will take no action without “tangible verification” of the agreed terms.
At the same time, crude oil prices in the US continue to fall, dropping below 89 dollars per barrel.
The US is negotiating with an “invisible negotiator”
-Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will need to approve any final agreement with the US through secret courier networks, while continuing to remain hidden as a “confirmed target” of the US and Israel, counterterrorism experts said Tuesday.
This arrangement, from Tehran’s side, means that Washington is negotiating a high-risk agreement with a completely invisible interlocutor, with a possible memorandum signed by a regime leader who can never appear publicly.
“Khamenei is a target, and every confirmed appearance becomes a coordinate,” said Dr. Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative Program on Extremism at George Washington University and Middle East expert, speaking to Fox News Digital.
“The courier system used for communications is not temporary. It is the operating system of his governance. Any agreement signed by the United States will have to be designed for a permanently invisible interlocutor, the enforcement of which depends on his continued survival. This is not arms control as traditionally understood. It is a memorandum signed under American military pressure, with a leader who cannot show his face.”
Mohammed’s comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained to reporters in India the reasons behind the delay in the agreement. “That’s simply the response,” Rubio said. “When you deal with certain issues, it takes time to get answers, and the Iranians need a little more time to respond.”
“This confirms the delay caused by the courier system in the process,” Mohammed commented. “Rubio is describing a structural characteristic of negotiations with a supreme leader no one can locate.”
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