Pakistan, Qatar propose return of Iran and US to negotiating table

AVASH NEWS: Pakistan and Qatar on Monday presented a joint proposal calling on Iran and the United States to return to their positions prior to July 9 as an initial step for the resumption of talks.
Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei stressed during his weekly press briefing that one of the main principles of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding was “commitment for commitment.”
He said Iran had honored its commitments as long as the other side remained committed to its obligations, adding that Tehran had never been the first party to violate an agreement.
“Whenever the other side breached its commitments, we warned that we would no longer implement our own obligations. Therefore, the issue is clear: an agreement is valuable only when all parties remain committed to their commitments; otherwise, it becomes nothing more than a piece of paper,” Baghaei said.
Baghaei added that insisting on a false choice between diplomacy and negotiations on one side and war on the other is not in Iran’s interest.
“Believing that diplomacy contradicts defense, or that defense is incompatible with diplomacy, is by no means a correct logic. The goal is to safeguard Iran’s national interests, sometimes through defense, sometimes through diplomacy, and sometimes through both simultaneously,” he said.