Iran and the United States have made progress in negotiations but are still a long way from a deal, declares Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator.
According to Al Jazeera, in a nationally televised address on Saturday night, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that despite “progress” with the US, “many gaps and some fundamental points remain… we are still far from the final discussion.”
On Sunday, April 19, Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that US President Donald Trump cannot justify depriving Tehran of what he called its ‘nuclear rights’.
“Trump says Iran cannot make use of its nuclear rights, but doesn’t say for what crime. Who is he to deprive a nation of its rights?” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by the Iranian Student News Agency.
The future of Iran’s nuclear programme and the Strait of Hormuz are key sticking points in the negotiations.
The latest comments from the political leadership came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reimposed restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, less than 24 hours after reopening it. The reversal, it said, was due to the continuing naval blockade of Iranian ports by the US.
Ghalibaf, one of Iran’s top negotiators, called Washington’s blockade “ignorant” and “foolish”, saying Tehran would not allow others to transit the strait if its own ships were blocked.
He also said Iranian forces are “fully prepared” for the US to resume hostilities at any moment.
Mediators have been pushing for a second round of US-Iran peace talks, after a first round in Islamabad ended on April 12 with no deal.
