Iran says mediated message exchanges with U.S. continue via Pakistan, Qatar

Photo: Iran MFA

BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 12. Contacts and exchanges of messages between Iran and the U.S., mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, are continuing.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, this was stated by Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, at a press conference in Tehran on October 12.

“The plan put forward on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session and dubbed the ‘Iranian seven-day plan’ was a legitimate demand by Iran,” he noted.

Baghaei reported that this seven-day plan called for the lifting of the naval blockade, the cessation of hostilities on all fronts, and the unfreezing of Iran’s frozen assets.

“It should be particularly noted that the issues outlined in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding will be raised during any negotiations as Iran’s legitimate rights.”
The U.S. side also put forward its demands. The U.S. continues to assert that Iran’s nuclear program is its primary concern. At the same time, the American side has repeatedly claimed that Iran’s nuclear program has been completely dismantled. Nevertheless, the U.S. continues to cite the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear weapons,” he noted.

Meanwhile, a new wave of tension in relations between the U.S. and Iran began on July 8. On that day, for the first time since the signing of the memorandum between Washington and Tehran, the U.S. Armed Forces launched several waves of strikes against Iranian territory, stating that this was in response to an attack on a merchant ship in the Strait of Hormuz. On the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the termination of the ceasefire with Iran. In response, Tehran began striking U.S. facilities located in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Oman. As a result of the conflict, maritime trade in the Strait of Hormuz came to a standstill.
In recent days, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, mediating countries have been facilitating indirect exchanges of messages between Iran and the U.S. Meanwhile, it is reported that the U.S. side has conveyed a new draft proposal to Iran with the aim of resuming negotiations.