Iranian lawmaker says Khamenei reviewed US-Iran MoU text 25 times

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the FT the hotline, agreed during US-Iran talks in Switzerland, was needed to counter "disinformation" and verify threats to ships as mines were cleared from the waterway.

"A challenge" was that people seeking to disrupt the deal could use shipping communications to issue false warnings, he said.

"The hotline’s purpose is to make sure that any ship that gets any type of threat is to be verified by Iran ... and to let the ship pass safely," Sheikh Mohammed said.

He said the waterway had remained open despite statements by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that it would close again in response to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mediators had checked with Iranian officials, who said no order had been issued to close it, he said.

LNG return

Qatar expects shipping through the strait to begin returning to normal in the first few weeks of the deal, though Sheikh Mohammed said restoring confidence would take time, the FT reported.

"It cannot be normal in one day, and it will take a lot of effort," he said.

Qatar would resume normal liquefied natural gas production "within a few weeks," except at damaged facilities, he said.

QatarEnergy suspended production after attacks on its Ras Laffan facilities during the war. The company will lift force majeure only when it judges it is safe to operate, Sheikh Mohammed said.

He said Doha would oppose any Iranian plan to charge ships fees to pass through the strait.

"We cannot accept a situation or a condition where our gateway to the world is controlled," he said.

The US and Iran agreed under their memorandum of understanding to extend a ceasefire by 60 days and begin nuclear talks, with Qatar and Pakistan mediating efforts toward a final settlement.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that the Islamabad memorandum of understanding with Washington turned into “a declaration of US defeat.”

“The Islamabad memorandum of understanding became a declaration of the US defeat,” Ghalibaf said in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he was attending a meeting of parliaments from Muslim-majority states.

He said the agreement showed dialogue could succeed only when the other side stopped trying to impose its will and accepted Iran’s rights.

He added that the MOU was not the result of pressure or coercion, but of what he called resistance and power.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that security in the Middle East should be provided by countries in the region, as he traveled to Baku for a meeting of parliaments from Muslim-majority states.

"Security in the region must be provided by the countries of the region themselves," Ghalibaf said.

"No one’s security should depend on the insecurity of others," he added.

Ghalibaf was attending the 20th meeting of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states in Azerbaijan’s capital.

He said regional conditions had changed since the recent war and that the meeting would give Iran a chance to explain developments following the conflict.

"The resistance of the Iranian people showed that the era of imposing one’s will on independent nations has ended," Ghalibaf said, adding that this had drawn admiration internationally.

Airlines should continue to avoid airspace over Iran, Iraq and Lebanon despite a framework deal between Washington and Tehran, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said on Wednesday, warning that ceasefire violations remained possible.

EASA extended its conflict-zone advisory for the region until July 1.

The agency said short-term violations of the US-Iran ceasefire remained possible, especially in and around the Strait of Hormuz and neighboring airspace.

It also cited the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah as a risk to flights over Lebanon.

EASA urged airlines to take potential risks into account when flying in the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

An Iranian lawmaker accused Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday of pursuing negotiations with the United States against Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s stated red lines.

“He is conducting and advancing the negotiations against all the Leader’s red lines,” Kamran Ghazanfari said. “Whatever the Leader has said not to do, he has done the opposite.”

He said Ghalibaf had shut parliament to accept a ceasefire with the United States and Israel and begin talks with Washington without facing obstacles.

He dismissed as “completely false” claims that parliament sessions were suspended by a Supreme National Security Council decision.