Iran Calls for Comprehensive End to Hostilities Across Region Amid US-Iran Deal
Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said "the war must end on all fronts, including Lebanon" during a call with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Qalibaf stressed the need for a comprehensive end to hostilities across the region as tensions continue to escalate. The remarks come amid growing diplomatic efforts to prevent the Iran-Israel conflict from expanding further into neighboring countries, including Lebanon. Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, during a call with Lebanon's Parliament Speaker, said Israel must withdraw from the "occupied areas" in Lebanon. He also stressed that the people of southern Lebanon should be allowed to return to their homes. The remarks come amid heightened regional tensions linked to the Iran-Israel conflict and concerns over a broader escalation across the Middle East. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing has been working with both Iran and the United States "in its own way" to secure an agreement for further negotiations aimed at ending the US-Israel war. Wang added that China is ready to work with Pakistan to "promote peace talks without pause". Beijing has repeatedly called for dialogue and de-escalation in the Middle East amid fears of a wider regional conflict. US President Donald Trump said Washington plans to extract Iran's enriched uranium buried beneath sites hit during the conflict but stressed that there is “no rush” to do so. “When we get it, we’ll destroy it,” Trump said, adding: “We’re not looking to take it, we’re looking to destroy it. We’ve got plenty of it.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a new round of negotiations with the United States aimed at reaching a final agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme is expected to begin on Friday. He said the talks would follow the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran and focus on resolving outstanding nuclear issues and defining the terms of a final accord. US President Donald Trump said the memorandum of understanding with Iran states “loud and clear” that Tehran will not possess a nuclear weapon. Speaking to reporters at the G7 summit in France, Trump said preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons was the central objective of the agreement and reiterated that the deal is designed to ensure Iran does not develop, buy or obtain one. Oil prices fell more than 2% to their lowest levels in three months as investors grew optimistic about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz following the preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran. Brent crude dropped $2.02, or 2.4%, to $81.15 a barrel after touching $80.89, its lowest level since March 4. US West Texas Intermediate fell $2.22, or 2.8%, to $78.53 a barrel, having earlier hit $78.27, its lowest since March 10. Oil prices had already tumbled nearly 5% after US President Donald Trump announced the interim deal aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran. Qatar said it will continue efforts to advance negotiations between the United States and Iran, backing the Pakistan-led mediation process. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Doha is working in support of “our brothers in Pakistan” and praised Islamabad's role in bringing the talks to their current stage. “We must praise here the role Pakistan has played to get us to this point and the role it will play going forward as the main mediator,” al-Ansari said. Qatar said it will continue efforts to advance negotiations between the United States and Iran, backing the Pakistan-led mediation process. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Doha is working in support of “our brothers in Pakistan” and praised Islamabad's role in bringing the talks to their current stage. “We must praise here the role Pakistan has played to get us to this point and the role it will play going forward as the main mediator,” al-Ansari said. Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari expressed optimism that negotiations between the United States and Iran will help end the conflict and bring stability to the region. Speaking in Doha, he said he hopes Friday's signing of the agreement will mark the beginning of "fruitful negotiations" between Washington and Tehran. Qatar has played a key mediating role in facilitating talks that led to the memorandum of understanding. Iranian state television reported that three Iranian tankers and two vessels carrying essential goods are currently sailing toward Iranian ports from the Indian Ocean. The vessels are heading to Iran as shipping activity in the region gradually resumes following the announcement of the US-Iran agreement and plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Doha hopes the US-Iran memorandum of understanding will reopen navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and allow Qatar to continue supplying liquefied natural gas to countries in need. “We hope the MoU will help open the navigation in Hormuz so that Qatar can continue supplying LNG,” al-Ansari told a press conference. US President Donald Trump said the only thing that matters to him is that Iran “will never have a nuclear weapon,” warning that Tehran would face “ultimate consequences” if it attempts to develop, buy or obtain one. Trump said preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was “the reason I got in, and that's the reason I agreed to sign” the agreement. He also stressed that he does not support regime change in Iran, saying, “I never cared about regime change. It's never a part.” Describing Iran's current leadership as “very rational people,” Trump said they were “nice to deal with,” “strong people” and “smart people,” adding that they are “not radicalised” and are looking to help their country. US President Donald Trump said he believes Iran now has “rational leadership,” arguing that the officials he considered “totally irrational” are “now gone.” He made the remarks as he defended the emerging US-Iran agreement and expressed optimism about future ties with Tehran. US President Donald Trump said that under the agreement being negotiated with Iran, Tehran “can’t have a nuclear weapon” or “they get blown up.” He described the emerging deal as “a wall to a nuclear weapon,” contrasting it with the previous agreement under former US President Barack Obama, which he called “a road to a nuclear weapon.” US President Donald Trump said he has a “great relationship” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but added that he must act more responsibly regarding Lebanon. Speaking at the G7 summit, Trump said he told Israel he “did not like its attack on Beirut” and suggested that Syria should take responsibility for handling Hezbollah instead of Israel. He also reiterated that while relations with Netanyahu remain strong, Washington expects greater restraint in Lebanon amid ongoing regional tensions. US President Donald Trump said the conflict involving Lebanon is a “minor one” and expressed confidence that the Iran agreement will hold despite ongoing regional tensions. He added that the US is focused on securing Iran’s enriched uranium, saying “psychologically, we want to get Iran’s enriched uranium,” while stressing that Washington will continue efforts related to Ukraine and other global issues. Trump also said he will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later in the day and reiterated that the Iran deal remains intact despite developments on the ground. Shipowners will not resume regular transit through the Strait of Hormuz for weeks until they are confident that the US-Iran peace deal is “material,” according to the CEO of Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in an interview with the Financial Times. The shipping executive said operators are still assessing whether the agreement will hold in practice before restoring normal operations through the strategic waterway. Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said negotiations between Iran and the United States will begin immediately after the memorandum of understanding is signed in Geneva on Friday. He said the Iranian delegation will be led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, while US negotiators will be headed by Vice President JD Vance. Takht-Ravanchi added that Switzerland will host the signing ceremony, though the exact location has not yet been finalized. He said the next round of talks will begin immediately after the signing, signaling a rapid transition from the preliminary agreement to detailed negotiations. According to an Al Jazeera update, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi has said that negotiations between the US and Iran will begin after the memorandum of understanding is signed in Switzerland. Takht-Ravanchi was quoted as saying that the team would be led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and that the US team would be led by Vice President JD Vance. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi opined that the US and Israel were one and the same when it came to negotiations. He also warned that any Israeli attack on Lebanon or continued occupation of Lebanese territory in the coming days would now constitute a violation of the interim agreement with the United States. “In our view, the two parties to this memorandum are the US and Israel on one side, and Iran and Hezbollah on the other,” he said Iran's top diplomat was quoted as saying on Tuesday that the end of the Iran war included the end of Israel's occupation of Lebanon. Iranian state television quoted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi making the comment to foreign diplomats in a briefing. It did not air the remarks, but put them in an on-screen graphic. It also quoted Araghchi as saying that Israel's continued occupation of southern Lebanon would violate the memorandum of understanding reached between the United States and Iran. It remains unclear what is in the interim agreement, as it has yet to be released publicly in full. US President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen and be “permanently toll-free” as a deal was finalised with Iran. But the interpretation appears to differ somewhat for Tehran, which indicated on Monday that it intended to charge fees for unspecified services in the strait. The New York Times quoted foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei as saying that Iran was “not seeking to levy transit tolls". However, "fees will be charged in exchange for the services that are provided". According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency in Iran, the country will soon connect its electricity grid with Qatar. The update came from Iranian Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi. The plan has been in the works for several years with the two countries previously agreeing to exchange 1,000 megawatts of electricity and signing an MoU in 2021. Tehran has reportedly established the exchange of electrical energy with all neighbouring countries. But the infrastructure used to connect the electrical grid via sea not yet materialised. Oil prices extended losses on Tuesday, as markets weighed prospects for a resumption of supply through the key Strait of Hormuz against shaky physical market drivers and a lack of details from a preliminary deal to end the Iran war. By 0631 GMT, Brent crude futures were down 45 cents, or 0.5%, at $82.72 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was down 24 cents, or 0.3%, at $80.51 a barrel. The interim agreement would extend a tenuous ceasefire announced in April by another 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February. Negotiators would address difficult issues like the future of Iran's nuclear programme during the next phase of talks to be held during the 60-day window. Two other issues that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify the war - ending Iran's support for regional armed proxies and curbing its missile programme - are not thought to be on the agenda for those negotiations. Senior officials in the Trump administration have described the newly negotiated understanding with Iran as a framework that could reshape relations between Tehran and Washington. They linked sanctions relief and economic reintegration to strict nuclear oversight and regional security commitments. "We have now signed some understanding with Iran and the memorandum provides a few basic things. The first is it provides a structure for how our negotiation, our relationship will operate in the future, and the basic way it works is that the more that the Iranians are willing to work with us on their nuclear program, on verifying that they're not building a nuclear weapon, on not funding radicalism and terrorism in the region, the more that they're going to be welcomed into the world economy through a combination of sanctions relief and other economic measures," ANI quoted a senior US official as saying. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, senior aides to US President Donald Trump were surprised by his social media post that he had reached an agreement with Iran. The publication reported that the POTUS had inked the deal while speaking to journalists, allies and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone --- all while preparing to attend the cage fights being held on the White House lawn in honour of his 80th birthday. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is unlikely to resume for weeks, as shipowners remain unconvinced that the US-Iran framework deal has translated into real stability on the ground. The chief executive of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Jotaro Tamura, told the Financial Times that operators will stay cautious until the agreement is seen as “material” in practice, not just on paper. He said shipping companies need clear and tangible safety conditions in the region before they feel comfortable sending vessels back through the critical waterway. The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force has reportedly told Iranian media that the US-Israel war on his country has completely “discredited America” and accelerated the “collapse” of the “criminal Israeli regime”. Brigadier General Esmail Qaani also pointed to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait as a winning card, describing it as “like wax in the hands of the boys of Hezbollah, Ansar Allah [the Houthis], and Yemen”.
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