TEHRAN: The Iranian government pledged on Saturday to stand firm against US sanctions and what it called US-Israeli "conspiracies," saying diplomacy and defence were "complementary, coordinated and inseparable" tools for protecting the country's national interests, security and territorial integrity. In a statement carried by state media, the government said it would pursue both tracks simultaneously and focus on curbing inflation, creating jobs, supporting domestic production and gradually reducing dependence on the dollar.
Six months after the US and Israel launched the war, negotiations are at an impasse and President Donald Trump's administration has stepped up efforts to punish Iran financially with what it has billed as an "economic D-Day". Later on Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian called on state TV for a revival of the interim deal, which was signed on June 17 but quickly unravelled amid disagreements over what had been agreed, especially on the status of the Strait of Hormuz. "We can solve our problems and gain our privileges with the memorandum of understanding," he said of a document that had offered Iran, among other things, immediate relief from US sanctions and the release of its frozen assets. Qatar, a US ally and Gulf neighbour to Iran, and Pakistan helped broker the June memorandum of understanding.
Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz carried 20 per cent of the world's oil and LNG. US military commanders say American forces have cleared sea mines from the strait that had been laid months ago by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Trump has repeatedly said the strait is open, but the Revolutionary Guards' navy said in a statement that such claims "are an obvious lie", reiterating that the waterway remained closed to ships without Iranian permission. Meanwhile, Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping are expected in Central Asia's Kyrgyzstan Monday for a two-day summit, also attended by Iran's and India's leaders, of a regional bloc seeking to be a counter-influence to the West.
Around a dozen heads of states will head to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek to mark 25 years of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The group brings together Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, four Central Asian countries and Moscow-allied Belarus. Putin and Xi have previously used SCO summits to promote their vision of a multipolar world and present a united front against the West. Iran will be represented by its president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi are due to take part in a plenary session chaired by Kyrgyz leader Sadyr Japarov, TRT World reported. Putin is also expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Iran's Pezeshkian and China's Xi, among other leaders, Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov said.