US: If no 'good deal,' we could deal with Iran 'another way'

Iran and US voice optimism but temper expectations for imminent breakthrough in talks

Tehran: Understandings reached on many issues, nuclear issue will only be discussed after sanctions relief; Rubio: Deal could be ‘today,’ but no hurry, Israel ‘always has right to protect itself’

Iran and the United States played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war on Monday, with Tehran saying that while it had reached understandings on many issues with the US, an agreement was not imminent.

“It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said during a weekly news briefing.

“But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent — no one can make such a claim,” he said, accusing Washington of shifting its positions.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a memorandum of understanding to end the war with Iran could materialize “today,” though if a “good deal” isn’t reached, the US would deal with the country in “another way.”

There was a “pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait, get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off,” Rubio said.

“It has a lot of support in the Gulf… every country that we’ve walked through it [with] understands it’s not just very reasonable, but it’s the right thing for the world to get done,” he said.

“He’s not in a hurry, he’s not going to make a bad deal, and the president’s not going to make a bad agreement,” Rubio said of US President Donald Trump.

Rubio emphasized that “Israel always has a right to protect itself,” amid reported dissatisfaction within Israel over the terms of the emerging memorandum, which is said to leave nearly all of Jerusalem’s concerns unmet.

“If Hezbollah is going to launch missiles or launches missiles at them, Israel has every right to respond to that, or to prevent that from happening,” he said. “That’s always been understood. It’s being understood during the ceasefire.”

The war against Hezbollah in Lebanon is one of many key issues that remain unresolved, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Tehran’s demands for the lifting of sanctions and the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.

A senior Trump administration official outlined what he said were the latest contours of issues being negotiated.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said Iran had agreed “in principle” to open the Strait of Hormuz, in exchange for the United States lifting its naval blockade, and to dispose of Tehran’s highly enriched uranium.

The US understood Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had endorsed the broad template of the deal, he added.

But Tehran is insisting that it will only discuss its nuclear program and its highly enriched uranium if Washington fulfills its commitments in the potential memorandum being negotiated, a senior Iranian diplomat told the ISNA news agency Monday.

These issues would be discussed in 60-day negotiations in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and release of Iranian foreign assets, Hossein Nooshabadi said, according to the agency.

Despite this, the senior US official pushed back on suggestions that Iran had not accepted disposing of its stockpiled enriched uranium. “It’s a question about how,” the official said.

A second senior administration official said on Sunday the proposed framework would give negotiators 60 days to reach a final deal.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told state television that Tehran was “still prepared to assure the world that we are not seeking nuclear weapons,” but it was unclear if this promise would be enshrined in the text of the deal.

According to Iran’s Fars news agency, “sanctions on oil, gas, petrochemicals and their derivatives would be temporarily lifted during the negotiation period so that Iran can freely sell its products.”

Iran has long denied US and Israeli accusations that it is pursuing nuclear weapons and says it has a right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes, although the purity it has achieved far exceeds that needed for any civilian use. Iran, which is avowed to destroy Israel, has a stockpile of more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium in its possession, which Israeli officials have said is sufficient for 11 nuclear bombs if enriched further.

Iran says Hormuz ‘measures’ included in memorandum

Regarding efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei said that the issue was included in the text of the initial memorandum under discussion: “US actions under the title of a naval blockade must be stopped, and at the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take the necessary measures for safe transit in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Traffic through Hormuz, a vital global shipping route, has come under Iranian control since the outbreak of the war.

Iran, which has only allowed a trickle of ships to pass through the strait, has insisted that vessels obtain permission from its armed forces before transiting the waterway.

Baghaei claimed Iran was not imposing tolls on ships transiting the strait but rather collecting fees for “navigational services.”

“The services that are provided — navigational services in addition to the measures necessary to protect the environment of the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman — require the collection of certain fees,” he said, adding that Iran was “not seeking to collect tolls,” but failing to explain the practical difference.

According to a Sunday report in Axios, during the 60-day negotiation period that would begin if a memorandum is reached, the Strait of Hormuz would be open with no tolls, and Iran would agree to clear the mines it deployed in the strait to allow ships to pass freely.

In exchange, as part of the proposed deal, the US would lift its blockade on Iranian ports and issue some sanctions waivers to allow Iran to sell oil freely, the report added.

Meanwhile, Iran reelected Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the top negotiator in talks with the US, as the country’s parliamentary speaker, semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.

Ghalibaf is a former brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and has led Iran’s strategic affairs since the death of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and several other top officials in the initial US-Israeli strikes that kicked off the war nearly three months ago.

Iran hangs man accused of armed attacks during January protests

Also on Monday, Iran executed a man convicted of carrying out armed attacks during the nationwide anti-government protests that peaked in January, the judiciary said.

Abbas Akbari’s is the latest in a string of executions by the Islamic Republic after it ramped up hangings in security-related cases after the outbreak of war.

“Abbas Akbari… was hanged this morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported, describing him as “one of the armed leaders” during protests in the central province of Isfahan.

According to the report, Akbari “opened fire in the street at security forces” and “was one of the armed leaders of the riots in Nain town in Isfahan province” while carrying a handgun.

He was also accused of attacking the governorate building, security establishments and health centers in Nain.

The judiciary said Akbari had been sentenced to death on charges including “moharebeh” — waging war against God — as well as deliberate destruction of public property “with the intent of confronting the system, disrupting public order and security, and assembly and collusion against national security.”

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence following his appeal, and he was executed on Monday morning, Mizan said.

On Sunday, Iran executed a man convicted of espionage in the first reported execution linked to spying accusations during the war.

Iran carries out the second-highest number of executions in the world after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.

Iran claims to down Israeli drone; IDF says not familiar with incident

The Iranian army claimed Sunday to have downed an Israeli spying and surveillance drone in the Hormozgan province, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.

The wreckage of a shattered Orbiter drone, an Israeli product, was discovered in cooperation with Iranian naval forces, the semi-official agency claimed.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was not familiar with the incident.