IRGC outlet urges Tehran to close Hormuz, end US MoU implementation

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said a planned Friday meeting in Switzerland on the Iran-US memorandum of understanding “has been postponed to another time", saying the digital signing of the text on Thursday had removed the urgency of the gathering.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said consultations are continuing through mediators and that the timing for the start of negotiations will be announced “if the conditions are met.”

According to Baghaei, under the text of the memorandum, the start of talks for a final agreement is conditional on the beginning and continued implementation of clauses 1, 4, 5, 10 and 11 of the MoU, apparently referring to the recent exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah which Tehran has decribed as a violation of the MoU.

Baghaei also dismissed some media reports about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as “baseless.”

Iran’s state broadcaster said ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz must still obtain permits, framing the process as evidence that Tehran continues to control and manage the strategic waterway.

The report said Iran’s Supreme National Security Council viewed the permit requirement as a sign that Tehran’s authority over the strait remains in place.

It also said commercial traffic at Iranian ports had resumed, with three commercial vessels entering Iranian ports.

The state TV reporter said shipping procedures had been largely coordinated with Oman and that Iran planned to charge fees for services it provides in the waterway.

US President Donald Trump said he had discovered there were no limits to his power since going to war with Iran, while also arguing that extending the conflict could have risked a global economic crisis, Axios reported.

In an interview with Axios, Trump portrayed the Iran deal as a display of US dominance, insisting the outcome amounted to Iran’s unconditional surrender and regime change, even as critics on the right said the agreement fell short of his earlier demands.

Axios said Trump repeatedly described power in terms of submission, saying Israel respected him and would follow his direction, while dismissing Republican hawks who opposed the Iran deal.

"If it weren't for me, Israel would not exist today," Trump told Axios, adding that his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane."

He said prolonging the war to satisfy those critics could have triggered a worldwide depression, pointing to falling oil prices and rising stock markets as proof that he was right to back a deal aimed at ending the Iran war.

“I have one primary wish as president. I never want to be the late, great Herbert Hoover,” Trump said, referring to the US president associated with the Great Depression.

Axios also cited a forthcoming book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan saying Trump had entertained the idea that he may be more powerful than historical conquerors and dictators, including Napoleon, Mao, Stalin and Hitler.

Karaj’s Friday prayer leader said Iran would continue to regard the United States as its main enemy even if negotiations go ahead, arguing that talks would not change Tehran’s view of Washington.

Mohammad-Mehdi Hosseini Hamedani told Friday prayers in Karaj that Iran would not make what he called a strategic miscalculation and still viewed the United States as untrustworthy.

He said any negotiations would be aimed at demanding Iran’s rights and would be conducted from a position of strength, not as the kind of political trade-off some people expect.

Hosseini Hamedani also described Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s message on the US memorandum as wise and timely, saying all sides were now waiting to see whether the conditions set out in it would be fulfilled.

Sari’s Friday prayer leader said officials should act according to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s original position on talks with the United States, seizing on Khamenei’s own caveat that he had held a different view before allowing the memorandum to be implemented.

Mohammad-Bagher Mohammadi Laeini told Friday prayers in Sari that Khamenei’s “principled view” had been different and said officials were expected to follow what he called the Leader’s main position.

Responding to US officials’ remarks about the memorandum with Tehran, Mohammadi Laeini said Washington still had not understood Iran.

“The Islamic Republic will not accept the disgrace of compromise with America,” he said, adding that Iranians had shown they were “not a nation of compromise.”