TEHRAN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A draft of a potential peace agreement between Tehran and Washington demands the United States and its allies, including Israel, commit not to attack Iran and its allies under any circumstances, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.
The report cited the provision in rejecting a report by The New York Times that U.S. President Donald Trump has exempted Israel from U.S. commitments under any potential agreement with Iran.
According to the Fars report, which it said was based on an explicit text of the drafted peace deal, "If finalized, the United States and its allies will commit not to attack Iran and its allies under any circumstances, and in return, Iran has pledged that neither the country nor its allies will launch preemptive military attacks on the United States and its allies."
On Saturday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told state-run IRIB TV that Iran and the United States are currently working to finalize a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the war, with an agreement expected to be reached "within a period of 30 to 60 days."
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that the MoU pending finalization also demands the United States waive its oil sanctions against Iran during the subsequent bilateral negotiations, as well as release part of the frozen Iranian assets in the first step in a way enabling Iran's access.
According to the report, first of all, the MoU focuses on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. In a following stage, the two sides are expected to implement measures, within a period of 30 days, concerning the U.S. naval blockade against Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, and concurrently, they will set a 60-day period for negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.
The United States and Iran reached a ceasefire on April 8 after 40 days of fighting that started with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
Following the truce, they held one round of peace talks in Pakistan's Islamabad on April 11 and 12, but failed to yield an agreement.
Over the past weeks, the two sides have reportedly exchanged several proposed plans outlining conditions for peace through Pakistan's mediation.
On Sunday, Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Ahmad Vahidi said the Iranian armed forces remain at the "highest level of readiness and active deterrence" concerning missile, air, naval, ground, space and cyber capabilities.
According to Iran's Student News Network, the commander warned that any renewed military action against Iran would trigger a "devastating" response on both regional and broader scales.
The remarks came after Trump said in a Saturday social media post that a peace deal with Iran had been "largely negotiated," subject to finalization between the United States, Iran and other relevant countries in the Middle East.
Tehran has not confirmed details of any such agreement. ■
