In an exclusive interview with CNN Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen in Tehran on Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei acknowledged that messages continue to pass between Tehran and Washington via Pakistani intermediaries.
“The main problem of negotiating with this administration is that you have to face so many changing positions, moving the goal posts, different statements, contradictory remarks by different officials, so it makes the whole process very cumbersome,” he said.
He added that several sticking points remain in the discussions to reach a memorandum of understanding, reiterating the necessity for the Americans to recognize Iran’s rights, including peaceful nuclear enrichment under the international non-proliferation treaty.
The Iranian spokesperson also demanded that the US unconditionally release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets held in foreign banks, rejecting the idea that such a move would represent a concession.
“At the same time, when they are talking about our blocked assets they’re not going to give us any concession,” Baghaei said.
For decades, the United States has held billions of dollars of legitimate Iranian wealth: oil revenues, central bank reserves, and commercial assets, seized through illegitimate executive orders and maintained through political pressure.
Days after a ceasefire halted the joint US-Israeli aggression on Iran that began on February 28, the question of Iran’s frozen assets emerged as the central test of American sincerity at the negotiating table.
CNN reported Sunday that the US is considering a plan that would allow Iranian assets to be used for rebuilding the Persian Gulf countries impacted by future Iranian attacks, according to a source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s thinking.
The Treasury Department is also weighing using the funds to support repairs for past damage, according to the source who confirmed similar reporting from Reuters on Saturday.
In reaction to the reports, Baghaei said the US must simply end its sanctions against Iran.
“As far as the sanctions and blocked assets are concerned, they simply need to let Iranian assets be released and be available for the Iranians,” he said.
The Iranian spokesman further added that the United States has been violating the ceasefire that took effect in April through its attacks on Iranian commercial vessels.
“They have been attacking our commercial ships, both in the Strait of Hormuz and in the high seas,” he asserted.
He described the current situation in the region as “very volatile and very dangerous,” placing the blame on the United States’ “reckless approach towards the region, and towards basically the ceasefire.”
Baghaei warned that Iran’s Armed Forces “are steadfast and resolute to respond to any attacks with all force.”
Even with the ongoing tensions, Iran and the US continue to exchange messages through Pakistani mediators, indicating that neither has completely ruled out a diplomatic solution.
In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Sunday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi delivered a special message from the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.
MNA
