Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator warned allies Friday that Tehran is prepared to restart military hostilities if Washington does not fulfill its obligations under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament and the country’s top interlocutor in diplomatic talks with the United States, made the statements during separate meetings in Tehran with senior officials from Belarus and China. The meetings were held on the sidelines of the weeklong funeral for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“We will firmly demand the full implementation of the understandings that have been reached,” Ghalibaf told Igor Sergeyenko, Belarus’ speaker of the House of Representatives, according to Iranian state media. “If the United States and the Zionist regime do not honor their commitments, the Islamic Republic of Iran will resume its proportionate measures.”
Ghalibaf also pressed for continued freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. He told Chinese Vice Chairman He Wei that Iran had cleared the obstacles preventing Chinese ships from transiting the waterway, which was closed to most commercial shipping for over three months during the U.S.-Iran conflict earlier this year.
Iran purchases roughly 90 percent of its oil exports through China. Ghalibaf called on Beijing to deepen economic ties with Tehran, framing closer strategic alignment with China as a deterrent against future U.S. or Israeli military action.
The warnings come less than a week after U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged fire for the first time since the MOU was signed, following an attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington blamed Tehran for the attack and launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian territory. Iran responded in kind.
President Trump announced Monday that both sides had agreed to stand down. Iran then requested a meeting in Doha, Qatar. Talks proceeded over two days through indirect channels, with both delegations communicating only through third-party mediators.
Ghalibaf’s remarks signal that Tehran considers the ceasefire fragile and is unwilling to let MOU compliance slide without consequences.
