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MOU, missiles, and Lebanon
A memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 between the United States and Iran deferred Iran’s nuclear program to further negotiation and left its ballistic missile arsenal unmentioned, while actively shielding Iran’s proxy network by including Lebanon in the ceasefire terms.
“Iran has condemned a joint US-Gulf Cooperation Council statement as “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative”, accusing Washington and its Gulf allies of using diplomacy to impose pressure on Tehran after the recent United States-Israeli war on Iran”
The JINSA analysis says the MOU’s provisions withdraw structural elements of the Gulf security architecture, with the sanctions regime slated for dissolution and an Iranian institutional claim over the Strait of Hormuz left intact.
JINSA also describes the immediate post–February 28 strikes period as one in which Iran launched more than 4,000 projectiles against the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with missiles or debris striking landmark buildings and airports in Dubai, high-rises in Manama, and Kuwait’s international airport.
In response to the emerging deal, Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned a joint US-GCC statement as “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative,” accusing Washington and its Gulf allies of using diplomacy to impose pressure on Tehran after the recent United States-Israeli war on Iran.
The Al Jazeera account says the US-GCC ministers welcomed the June 17 memorandum of understanding but tied any future economic engagement with Iran to strict conditions, including that “any trade and investment with Iran is conditional and reversible.”
Rubio tour and GCC pushback
As US-Iran negotiations continue in Switzerland over the coming two months, Mada Masr reports that a foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo brought together Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to discuss regional affairs in the wake of the Iran war, including security in the Gulf and developments in Lebanon and the Red Sea.
Mada Masr says the quartet mechanism was established after the US-Israeli war on Iran as a forum for coordination on regional fallout, and that discussions focused on four main issues: security in the Gulf, Lebanon, broader regional security, and the “territorial integrity” of nations across the Mashriq region and the Red Sea.
In Manama, Bahrain, the Washington Post describes Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s two-day trip to assuage US allies as an effort to reassure them that the U.S. was “isn’t cutting them out of negotiations with Tehran.”
Al Jazeera reports that Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei suggested Gulf states were making a mistake in “seeking protection from the greatest violator of security,” referring to the US.
Al Jazeera also quotes Baghaei saying, “Iran’s national security and dignity are matters that brook no compromise or condition,” and that the means of defense cannot be subject to bargaining or concession with any party.
Strait of Hormuz and UN draft
The US move to protect navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is described by Al-Sharq as a draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council aimed at freedom of navigation, with the United States accusing Iran of threatening the global economy through attempts to close the strait and threaten ships passing through it.
“Will Iran's war end decades of the Gulf-US alliance”
Al-Sharq reports that Rubio told reporters at the White House that the United States had made amendments to the draft UN resolution to avoid a veto by China and Russia, and that the draft resolution obligates Iran to stop maritime attacks, stop sowing mines, and stop imposing fees in the Strait of Hormuz.
Al-Sharq also says Rubio stated, “We will not respond unless we are attacked. This is a defensive operation,” and added that the Iranian regime cannot dictate who uses the vital waterway.
In parallel, Anadolu Ajansı reports that Iran urged regional states to reassess their positions after the US-GCC statement, and that Tehran reiterated the Strait of Hormuz lies within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman and that shipping management there would be governed by Article 5 of the recently signed memorandum of understanding.
Anadolu Ajansı further says the US and Gulf Cooperation Council countries called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and stressed that free navigation remains “essential” to regional and global security.
