Iran says no US agreement imminent despite talks framework

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf kept his post on Monday after lawmakers held elections for the parliament’s presiding board, state media reported.

More than 270 of the 285 members of parliament took part in the vote, according to the reports.

The election was held despite parliament having been closed since the start of the Iran war.

If the United States meets its commitments and a first-stage MoU advances, Iran’s nuclear file could be reviewed during 60-day talks, Iran's semi-official ISNA reported on Monday, citing a senior Iranian diplomat.

“The nuclear issue, enrichment and stockpiles of highly enriched uranium will be reviewed in 60-day talks in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and the full release of Iran’s blocked assets, and US forces will fully withdraw from the areas around Iran,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that management of the Strait of Hormuz was a matter between Iran and Oman, and Tehran was negotiating the issue with Muscat.

Iran would not give in to force or threats during talks with the United States, the spokesman for parliament’s national security committee said on Monday.

Ebrahim Rezaei said US threats should not be taken seriously and that time was no longer working in Washington’s favor.

“Do not believe the bluff of the defeated president. Time is working against the Americans,” he wrote in a post on X.

Tehran’s prosecutor said on Monday that more than €5 billion in foreign currency had been recovered from exporters who failed to meet their currency repatriation obligations on time.

Ali Salehi said more than €20 billion in export currency obligations had also been reviewed and settled through judicial follow-up, citing reports from Central Bank officials.

He did not name the exporters or specify where the funds had been held.

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of Iran’s hardline Kayhan newspaper, said on Monday that reopening the Strait of Hormuz would remove one of the main obstacles to renewed attacks on the country.

Shariatmadari said Iran’s closure of the strait and what he called Tehran’s legal sovereignty over the strategic waterway had been among the main tools that forced Iran’s adversaries to back down in the recent war.

“One of the main and most effective levers that brought the enemies of Islamic Iran to their knees in the recent war was closing the Strait of Hormuz and exercising the Islamic Republic’s legal sovereignty over this strategic waterway,” he wrote.

He also argued that control over the strait could bring Iran billions of dollars a year in transit fees from oil tankers and commercial vessels, while higher oil prices would increase Iran’s foreign currency income.