WANA (Jul 09) – Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, said the United States violated the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by opening a parallel shipping route in the southern Strait of Hormuz and carrying out military strikes on southern Iran, which Washington said were linked to Iran’s enforcement of its sovereignty in the strategic waterway.

 

In an interview, Gharibabadi said that under the Islamabad MoU between Iran and the United States, one provision requires Iran to arrange the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz free of charge for 60 days and to complete mine-clearing operations within 30 days.

 

He said the provision is “not open to interpretation,” arguing that both during the 30-day mine-clearing period and the 60-day implementation period, Iran is solely responsible for organizing vessel transit. According to Gharibabadi, Iran fulfilled that obligation by designating a shipping lane in the northern Strait of Hormuz approximately two to three weeks ago. The route was reported to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), cleared of mines, and declared safe by Iran.

 

Gharibabadi said the United States later pressured Oman to establish another shipping route in the southern Strait of Hormuz, close to Omani territorial waters. He described the route as harmful to Oman’s environment and economic activities, including fishing, and said several vessels had recently been directed through it.

 

According to Gharibabadi, Iran’s Navy warned commercial vessels that the southern route was unsafe, unauthorized, unlawful, and inconsistent with the arrangements set out in the Islamabad MoU, instructing them instead to use the northern route designated by Iran.

 

He alleged that U.S. forces prevented vessels from returning, forcing them to transit through the southern route and ordering them to switch off their radar and navigation systems.

 

He said that if the memorandum had been respected, vessels should have used the route designated by Iran, adding that Tehran had been fully prepared to implement all of its commitments and that the U.S. action was “completely unacceptable.”

 

Gharibabadi said Iranian officials recently informed Omani and Qatari authorities, as well as the United States indirectly during visits to Oman and Doha, that the southern route was illegal, disrupted implementation of Article 5 of the memorandum, and should be closed.

 

He maintained that the U.S. insistence on creating a parallel route constituted interference with the implementation of the agreement and said that any response by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy was, in Iran’s view, lawful and justified.

 

Speaking late Wednesday night, Gharibabadi said U.S. actions over the past seven to ten days—including preventing implementation of Iran’s shipping arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz and carrying out military strikes against Iran the previous night—constituted “clear aggression” and a second violation of the Islamabad memorandum, including a breach of its first article. He added that Iran’s armed forces had delivered what he described as an appropriate response.

 

Summarizing Iran’s position, Gharibabadi said Article 5 grants Iran both the authority and responsibility to determine shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz and does not permit parallel routes. He said that if the United States wanted commercial vessels to transit the strait, they should have used the route designated by Iran, adding that a significant number of vessels had already passed safely through the northern corridor without incident.

 

Referring to recent U.S. strikes on parts of Iran, Gharibabadi described them as a clear act of aggression and a blatant violation of the Islamabad memorandum. He said the agreement’s most important provision concerns ending military operations and the war, and argued that the United States had violated that core commitment.