Iran's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Tehran has no current plans to resume negotiations with the United States, declaring the country's full focus is on defense as the U.S. carried out a fifth consecutive day of military strikes targeting Iranian territory.
Iran's Position, in Its Own Words
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei made the comments to reporters outside a Tehran memorial service, responding directly to U.S. claims that its ongoing military operations would eventually force Iran back to the negotiating table. "We currently have no plans for negotiations and are focused on defence," Baghaei said, according to Iranian state media. He added that Iran will not adhere to any agreement if the U.S. "breaches its obligations," calling it "a principle" the country will continue to follow.
Baghaei argued that Washington had violated the June 17 memorandum of understanding between the two countries from its very outset, and said Iran had therefore stopped honoring its own commitments under the deal in response. "An MoU is a set of mutual commitments, and in the event of a breach by the other party, we too will refrain from fulfilling our obligations," he said. "The other party has engaged in bad faith and breach of promise beginning from the very first article of the MoU." He also warned that Iran's armed forces stood ready to respond to any further aggression: "Our armed forces will respond with full force to any aggressor. If they strike, they will be struck back."
A More Nuanced Message From Iran's Chief Negotiator
While Baghaei's remarks struck an unambiguous tone, Iran's chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, offered a slightly different emphasis in a separate statement, saying Tehran must continue to defend itself while also remaining open to diplomatic talks — provided any negotiation actually benefits Iran. Ghalibaf argued Iran's national security depends on preserving what he called "Iranian arrangements" in the Strait of Hormuz, which he said allow Tehran to manage the waterway, and accused Washington of "trying to weaken the Iranian arrangements through force." "If [Iran] does not benefit from its memorandum of understanding with the US, we have no reason to adhere to such an understanding," he said, adding that Iran's approach to the conflict should be guided by "national interests, national security and a long-term perspective," since Tehran "has no choice but to rely on its own strength."
The Scale of the Fighting So Far
The diplomatic freeze comes amid what CNN described as the fifth straight day of U.S. strikes on Iran, with U.S. Central Command saying its latest wave of attacks was aimed at Iranian targets "used to threaten vessels" in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Health Ministry reported that at least 35 people have been killed and roughly 300 wounded in U.S. attacks on the country this month, with seven Iranian army personnel reportedly killed and 13 wounded in a single strike Wednesday that Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said targeted a residential barracks area in Bampur, in Sistan and Baluchestan province. In response, Iran has continued launching retaliatory strikes on U.S. military installations across the Gulf, including in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait, with Bahrain reporting it intercepted several incoming missiles.
Trump Drops the Hormuz Toll Plan
In a notable reversal, President Trump announced Tuesday that he was abandoning his earlier plan to charge a 20% security fee on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a proposal unveiled just days earlier alongside the reinstated U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports. The U.S. military said it has already redirected two commercial vessels since restarting that blockade.
A Rare Moment of Goodwill Amid the Standoff
Despite the otherwise grim trajectory of the conflict, Trump announced on social media that Iran had released an American woman who had been detained since December 2024, describing it as a gesture of goodwill from Tehran. The release stood out as one of the only positive developments amid an otherwise escalating standoff, with sources telling CNN that Trump is also weighing options to further expand the U.S. military operation.
Why the Talks Are Stalled
At the core of the diplomatic freeze is the same unresolved dispute that has defined the conflict for months: control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran maintains that responsibility for managing transit through the waterway was delegated to Tehran under Article 5 of the 14-point memorandum of understanding signed with Washington, while the U.S. rejects that interpretation and has framed its strikes as necessary to protect commercial shipping from Iranian threats. With neither side backing down from its reading of the agreement, and Iran's Foreign Ministry now explicitly ruling out near-term negotiations, the path back to diplomacy remains unclear.
What's Next
With U.S. strikes continuing for a fifth straight day, Iranian casualties mounting, and Tehran publicly rejecting talks while reserving the right to retaliate "with full force," the conflict shows no clear sign of near-term de-escalation. Whether Ghalibaf's more conditional openness to eventual diplomacy — contingent on Iran actually benefiting from any deal — offers a realistic path forward, or whether Baghaei's firmer rejection of talks reflects the dominant position within Tehran's government, is likely to become clearer as the fighting continues.