The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Tehran and Washington “has entered a stage of crisis,” Iran said on July 13, as the United States struck Iran for a second day running, drawing Tehran’s reprisals against U.S. allies in the Gulf.
The fresh fighting and Iran’s announcement over the weekend of a new closure of Hormuz, a key conduit in the world’s oil trade, sent crude prices climbing on July 13 and further battered an interim peace deal.
Iran responded to the latest U.S. attacks by targeting Gulf nations, with the powerful Revolutionary Guards announcing new strikes on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, according to state media reports.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on July 13 told a press conference that Tehran’s position remains based on the principle of “commitment in exchange for commitment.”
“As long as the other party continues to violate its commitments, the Islamic Republic of Iran will, in turn, refrain from fulfilling the obligations it has undertaken,” he said, warning that the memorandum of understanding entered “a crisis phase.”
Commenting on recent diplomatic contacts, Baqaei said diplomacy remained “an available tool” despite the military escalation.
“Diplomacy is an instrument that never stops. We will use every means to protect our national interests,” he said, adding that the mediators’ task is to continue their efforts to prevent an escalation of tensions.
The past week’s hostilities have centered over competing claims over the critical energy trade route, which Iran’s Guard Corps (IRGC) say is now “closed” while the U.S. maintains the strait is open to maritime traffic and is not controlled by Iran.
Iranian state media reported two deaths in U.S. strikes that it said targeted large areas across southern and western Iran, including Qeshm island and Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz, and in Khuzestan province bordering Iraq.
The renewed fighting followed an Iranian attack early on July 12 on a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whose crew was forced to abandon it after it went up in flames.
The IRGC said after the incident that “the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region,” according to state news agency IRNA.
Control of the strategic waterway has become key leverage for Iran, with an adviser to the country’s supreme leader on Sunday saying it was more important than “dozens of atomic bombs.”
U.S. CENTCOM countered on X that the strait was “open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit.”
