WANA (Jun 30) – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that Iran had no plans to hold negotiations with the United States at any level in the coming days.

 

He said the deployment of an Iranian expert delegation to Qatar, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi, who also serves as Iran’s chief negotiator, was aimed at following up on the implementation of the memorandum of understanding.

 

Baghaei said that since the memorandum was signed on June 18, Iran had used every opportunity to ensure the implementation of its provisions, including the first clause, which he described as the most important because it concerned ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.

 

He added that Iran was also following up on provisions related to ending the naval blockade and facilitating access to Iran’s unfrozen or previously restricted assets.

 

He said these issues required continuous follow-up and that the meeting in Doha would be held with the Qatari side for that purpose. He added that Iran would use every opportunity to review all sections of the memorandum, although the main focus of the next meeting would be on making Iran’s released assets accessible.

 

He said the first clause would also be discussed through mediators, message exchanges, and during the Doha meeting.

 

Responding to a question about whether European countries had been invited to attend the funeral of what he referred to as the “martyred leader of the Revolution,” Baghaei said European officials had not been invited and that the reason was clear.

 

He said those attending the funeral were people who had placed themselves “on the right side of history,” while European countries had, in his view, stood “on the wrong side of history” during both last year’s war and the recent conflict. He described European governments’ response to what he called the U.S. and Israeli military aggression against Iran as “deeply shameful.”

 

Baghaei further said Iran did not believe that the honor of participating in the funeral would be extended to those who, in his view, had supported the aggressors either through silence or by issuing statements backing them.

 

Discussing the funeral arrangements in Iraq, Baghaei described the ceremony as a historic event with significance not only for Iranians but also for the region, the Islamic world, and people who valued peace, justice, and morality regardless of religion.

 

He said Iraqi authorities and the Iraqi people were preparing extensively for the event and that a special mechanism and a high-level committee had been established under the Iraqi prime minister to coordinate the funeral.

 

Baghaei said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had held meetings during his recent visit to Iraq with the Iraqi prime minister, president, national security adviser, parliament speaker, and the prime minister’s chief of staff, who had been appointed to head the funeral coordination committee.

 

He added that officials in Najaf and Karbala had also pledged to make every effort to ensure the ceremony was held on the largest possible scale.

 

He said the responsible authorities would announce further details of the funeral in the coming hours, adding that it was clear both the Iraqi government and people intended to organize a grand ceremony.

 

On Lebanon, Baghaei said the first clause of the memorandum clearly required an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, explicitly including Lebanon, as well as respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

 

 

He said respect for territorial integrity could not be achieved while territory remained under occupation and argued that ending the occupation was therefore part of the other side’s obligations.

 

He also said developments within Lebanon, including domestic objections to discussions between Israel and the Lebanese government, should be taken into account.

 

Baghaei said Iran’s commitments under the memorandum were clear and that the United States was obligated to take whatever steps were necessary to implement the agreement.

 

Asked whether any future negotiations, including nuclear talks, would depend on the formal announcement of a timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, Baghaei said the memorandum itself clearly addressed the issue. He said Clause 13 stipulated that negotiations on a final agreement could begin only after implementation of five specified provisions had commenced, particularly the first clause.

 

He said progress had already been made on several commitments, including ending the naval blockade, releasing Iranian assets, and facilitating Iranian oil sales.

 

Baghaei said the first clause remained of critical importance and argued that the situation had become noticeably calmer in recent days compared with the past, although he described the calm as fragile and said Iran remained aware that it was dealing with what he called an “aggressor entity.”

 

He said Iran remained committed to achieving both an end to the war and an end to the occupation.

 

Baghaei added that preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity was primarily the responsibility of the Lebanese government and said all factors affecting developments in the country should be taken into consideration.

 

He also said the establishment of a deconfliction mechanism was an important development and that Iran had appointed its representative to participate alongside representatives of the United States and the two mediators, Qatar and Pakistan, adding that Tehran would pursue the process seriously.