Reports have emerged that the United States and Iran have agreed to extend a ceasefire set to expire on the 17th. However, a senior Iranian source has denied any discussions regarding the extension, leaving the actual status uncertain.
According to Yonhap News, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported on the 12th, citing sources from the Pakistani government, that the U.S. and Iran communicated their intent to approve an extension of the ceasefire to Pakistan, the mediating country.
The two sides are currently engaged in further discussions about how long to extend the ceasefire, which is set to expire on the 17th.
Contrarily, Iranian officials have expressed a different stance. A senior Iranian source told Reuters, "There are no discussions between Iran and the U.S. regarding a ceasefire extension," adding, "From Iran's perspective, there is no date on which the ceasefire began, so there is nothing to extend."
This source explained that while the U.S. is discussing returning to the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Islamabad and determining a timeline for fulfilling commitments, there has been no progress to date.
The U.S. and Iran signed an MOU in Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 17, outlining plans for a peace settlement. The two sides agreed to engage in follow-up negotiations over the next 60 days, including discussions on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
However, the situation has stalled since last month when the U.S. resumed airstrikes against Iran, which Iran has deemed a violation of the MOU. In response, Iran has launched retaliatory attacks against U.S. military bases in the region.
Iran maintains that it will be difficult to reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the U.S. takes measures to compensate for its violations of the agreement. Regardless of the ceasefire extension, if both sides cannot find common ground on how to implement the existing agreement, tensions in the Middle East may rise again.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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