Iran’s Leaders Back US-Iran Memorandum Red Lines as Switzerland Talks Postponed

Iran’s leadership backed conditions tied to a US-Iran memorandum of understanding after the two sides signed it this week, with Iran’s parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the army voicing support for Tehran’s “red lines” and readiness for any possible violation of the agreement.

Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Friday that talks with the United States would remain bound by Tehran’s “red lines,” adding, “we are steadfast in fulfilling the conditions and red lines set.”

ANHA

The memorandum lays the groundwork for “sixty-day” negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions relief, and it remains unclear when talks for a final settlement would start after a first meeting in Switzerland slated for Friday was postponed.

The Express Tribune also reported that US President Donald Trump said the war had left Iran “FINISHED,” and he wrote on Truth Social that the US would “play out the 60 days” while insisting Iran would receive “no money, not ten cents.”

The BBC described the government’s response to the wider conflict as an immediate investigation and said Labour Minister Tahmina Akhter would “hold the owners fully accountable,” while the Express Tribune’s Iran-focused reporting framed the US-Iran interim peace deal as leaving Benjamin Netanyahu politically exposed.

In the Express Tribune’s account, Netanyahu was portrayed as having been “largely sidelined from the peace deal negotiations,” and it argued the interim deal left “several of Israel's goals unaccomplished” while Iran’s leadership remained intact.

AP News

Iranian officials also projected a posture of readiness, with the IRGC telling Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei that the “recent military confrontation had compelled the US to retreat” and that Iran’s armed forces remain “on trigger.”

Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and Middle East analyst, told ایران اینترنشنال that “The Iranian regime is now entering the strategy of what I call surviving, recovering, and rebuilding,” while Maj. (res.) Alex Grinberg argued, “Iran is now fighting for its survival and it fails to project power.”

The memorandum’s terms, as described in Liberation News, include “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” and it sets a “sixty-day” window for a final deal while the United States is to lift its naval blockade within thirty days.

Liberation News also said the United States would undertake a reconstruction plan of “at least $300 billion,” pledge to “terminate all types of sanctions,” and waive oil-export sanctions and release Iran’s frozen funds on implementation, while Iran would “reaffirm that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.”

Iran’s chief negotiator Ghalibaf warned that if the “enemy seeks to be excessive,” Iran’s “fingers” are “on the trigger,” and he said Iran has “no hesitation in giving a crushing response.”

ایران اینترنشنال reported that some analysts fear the US-Iran understanding could generate “unease among some regional actors who fear Tehran could once again rebuild its capabilities,” while Dalia Ziada said the post-war order may be shaped by competition between regional powers, mainly “between Turkey and the axis it represents and Israel and the axes it represents.”