The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry Esmaeil Baghaei is being cited today in Western media as, variously, signaling Iran’s lack of resolve, its appeal to negotiate, and/or that it is time to lower oil prices. Given that Iran’s grasp on the Strait of Hormuz and 20% of global oil has not weakened, that the hype over oil coming through the Strait can’t keep Wall Street’s financial jitters down, and that the Red Sea 7% of global oil is now threatened, one might pay attention to what was said at the press conference and how it was said.
To suggestions that the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding was flawed from unclarity, Baghaei stated: “It is absolutely not correct. The text of the memorandum is a short text and has 14 clauses. Read the text; which clause of it is ambiguous?” He specifically cited the Hormuz clause (#5), on Iran’s responsibility for managing the future of the Strait of Hormuz, in consultation with neighbor Oman and through dialogue with regional states: “The text is completely clear and there is no excuse for America’s treachery. Nowhere have we seen the American side announce that it resumed attacks on Iran because of a mistake or a difference in interpreting the text.”
Rather, the text had a clear sequence, one which Iran had honored until Washington breached it. He explained: “The logic was clear from the start: commitment for commitment. As long as the other side fulfilled its commitments, we were bound by ours. We have never been the first to break a pledge. An understanding or agreement has value and validity only as long as its parties abide by their commitments; otherwise, it is nothing but writing on paper.”
