WASHINGTON : The US on Thursday (Jun 18) lifted its blockade of Iran, and oil tankers began freely moving through the Strait of Hormuz after months of being unable to use the critical channel, as the tentative agreement to end the war took effect.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance announced that he may postpone a trip to Switzerland that had been planned for Friday and included a ceremonial signing of the deal. The visit might have helped start talks on the next, potentially even more critical, round of negotiations between the two sides.
Hours later, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei endorsed direct negotiations with the US in a statement read by state media. It was Khamenei’s first reaction to the agreement.
“In principle, I had a different view (about the memorandum of understanding), but I issued my permission due to the commitment that the honourable (Iranian) president, as the chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, gave me on behalf of himself and other members to protect the rights of the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front,” Khamenei said in message read on state television
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he took office in March following the killing of his father and predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 that sparked the regional war.
The message was his first reaction to the Iran-US deal to end the conflict that was signed by US Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Khamenei said Trump had “used all kinds of levers” to secure the deal “out of desperation”.
In his message, Khamenei noted that he received assurances from Pezeshkian about the deal and that it would not be accepted “if the American side wants to make excessive demands”.
“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s point of view,” he added.
