Iran's Foreign Ministry announced Friday that negotiations on a permanent agreement with the United States will begin only after four specific clauses of the existing memorandum of understanding are fulfilled, according to the ministry. The conditions include a permanent end to the war in Lebanon, a complete lifting of the US blockade, US waivers for Iranian oil exports, and the release of Iran's frozen assets.
In a new public statement Friday afternoon, Iran's Foreign Ministry laid out the preconditions it says must be met before talks on a final deal with Washington can begin, reiterating and sharpening demands that have featured in Iranian diplomacy throughout the week.
The ministry specified four clauses from the existing memorandum of understanding that must be fully implemented first: a permanent end to war in Lebanon, complete removal of the US blockade, US waivers for Iranian oil exports, and the release of Iran's frozen assets. The statement frames these as prerequisites for starting negotiations on a permanent agreement, not as elements of an eventual deal themselves.
The announcement follows a series of Iranian statements in recent days staking out negotiating positions. As The Zioneer reported this week, an Iranian source listed five preconditions on Thursday, including an end to operations in Lebanon and release of frozen assets, while the deputy foreign minister said Monday that a 60-day negotiation window would not begin until assets are unfrozen. The new statement omits the earlier demand regarding Iranian arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz, narrowing the public list to four items.
The Hezbollah connection remains central: a senior Hezbollah official told Reuters on Friday that Iran had communicated to the organization that talks with the US are conditioned on a comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts. The current statement aligns with that framework, explicitly linking final deal talks to Lebanon's security.
What remains unverified is whether the US has accepted any of these conditions, and whether the four clauses represent a fixed Iranian position or an opening bid before a new round of shuttle diplomacy.
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