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Ghalibaf’s victory claim
Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran had emerged victorious over both the United States and Israel, claiming the two countries failed to achieve any of the nine objectives they set at the start of the war with Iran.
“"I say with my whole heart that in this war, both in its military dimension and in its political dimension, we were victorious in the true sense of the word,"”
Ghalibaf said, "I say with my whole heart that in this war, both in its military dimension and in its political dimension, we were victorious in the true sense of the word," as the 60-day US-Iran ceasefire was coming to an end.
He also sought to clarify that his claim did not mean Iran had physically destroyed the American or Israeli militaries, saying, "I don't mean that we destroyed the American army or the Zionist regime's army."
The remarks were tied to a June 17 memorandum of understanding with the US that Ghalibaf described as consolidating Iran’s military gains into a political and diplomatic victory.
The conflict began on February 28, when Israel and the US launched a major military campaign against Iran after the breakdown of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Backchannel and threats
US President Donald Trump said his administration had established a direct backchannel with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, while also saying he was "in no hurry to end the war," according to Fox News.
Trump said, "They’re good poker players, but they’re dying," and added, "I have no time schedule. I’m not in a hurry."
Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani played a role in relaying messages between the United States and Iran and in efforts to ease tensions, a spokesperson told Iran International on Sunday.
Barzani condemned attacks against the office of Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the residence of the region’s security agency chief, calling them "completely unacceptable" and "a dangerous escalation," and the region’s security agency said two drones launched from Iranian territory attacked the prime minister’s office.
Trump also threatened to bomb Oman if it obstructed the United States amid the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz, while the US said preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained its top goal.
Hormuz, sanctions, and expiry
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the 60-day period associated with the Islamabad memorandum was no longer relevant because Washington had breached the agreement, and he said the agreement contained no formal 60-day deadline.
“"there is no subject titled a 60-day deadline"”
Baghaei said, "there is no subject titled a 60-day deadline," and argued that the "flagrant violation of the memorandum" by the US halted discussions.
He also denied that Iranian officials had held talks with US representatives in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region and called a report about a secret meeting in Erbil "fabricated," while describing the claim of a communication channel between the IRGC and America via the Kurdistan Region as a "psychological and media warfare tactic."
In parallel, Iran’s recently created Persian Gulf Strait Authority said an access problem affecting its website had been resolved, and it warned that if the problem recurs, the http domain would temporarily be available again through Firefox.
The conflict’s stakes were framed around the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran treating control over the strategic waterway as leverage and the US disapproving of a mechanism to govern it.
