TEHRAN/WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The 60-day window established under the June 18 peace memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Iran and the United States expires on Monday, marking a critical moment for an agreement that was meant to create space for diplomacy and de-escalation.
Yet as the deadline arrives, Washington finds itself increasingly trapped in a stalemate, unable to secure a military victory or revive diplomacy.
DIRECT TALKS IN LIMBO
On June 18, Iran and the United States signed the MoU on ending the war in the region on all fronts, including Lebanon.
Under the MoU, the two countries were scheduled to hold negotiations within a 60-day period, ending on Monday, to reach a final agreement. However, the fate of the talks has been hanging in the balance amid continued escalations between the two countries since the signing of the document.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has said that Iran has yet to decide on resuming negotiations with the United States, the state-run IRIB news agency reported Saturday.
Araghchi stressed that the United States has "violated" the MoU and that clashes have resumed.
On July 7 and 8, U.S. forces launched strikes against Iran for two consecutive days, citing the attacks as a response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. In retaliation, Iran launched missile and drone attacks against U.S. facilities in countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. The United States subsequently launched another sustained campaign of strikes beginning July 11, carrying out attacks on Iran for 13 consecutive nights through July 23, according to the U.S. Central Command.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on July 8, during the NATO summit, that the MoU with Iran "is over," and that he no longer wanted to deal with Iran. In a follow-up interview on July 13, Trump claimed the agreement was "built to test" Iran, stating, "They didn't honor the test." Although U.S. officials have since made few public references to the peace MoU, Trump has repeatedly said that talks with Iran were underway. Tehran, however, has repeatedly denied that any negotiations were being held or planned, leaving the resumption of direct talks between the two sides in limbo.
SANCTIONS AND THREATS
Washington has continued to escalate pressure on Tehran through financial sanctions and threats of further military action.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that Washington is stepping up a financial campaign against Tehran that began after Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy last year and intensified following the launch of military operations against Iran in February.
"We are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country," Bessent said in an interview, adding that the Treasury Department has targeted Iranian "bank accounts, crypto wallets, assets around the world, cutting off payments into both the leadership in the regime and the government itself."
The Treasury Department would pursue a combination of economic isolation and a continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Bessent said.
Also in recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume major combat operations against Iran with "bigger than ever before" strikes. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States "is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II."
Yet in early August, Trump said that he had agreed to hold off fresh attacks at the request of Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
The decision came amid growing concerns over U.S. ammunition stockpiles. Media reported that the U.S. military had exhausted nearly 80 percent of the interceptors for a key missile defense system during the war, as military commanders warned that the army's munitions stockpile was "dangerously low."
Analysts noted that the glaring contrast between Washington's aggressive rhetoric and its sudden military pause fully exposes the reality that the United States is struggling to sustain a high-intensity war of attrition.
HORMUZ STANDOFF
So far, the United States and Iran have been locked in a standoff over the control and ownership of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran continued to pursue diplomatic channels over the waterway. Araghchi noted in an interview Saturday that messages are being exchanged between Iran and the United States through mediators, namely Qatar and Pakistan, "but this does not mean negotiations at all."
At the same time, Iran and Oman are negotiating a new route for the safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said. "And we are currently designing a temporary route, which will turn into a permanent one in the next stages."
"We may reach a conclusion soon," he added. However, he said that the reopening of the strait hinges on the fulfillment of other conditions, "to which the United States must be committed."
Washington, meanwhile, has taken an increasingly assertive position over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Friday that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory.
"After we finish defeating Iran -- which is being very badly defeated -- pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," he said during a rally in New York.
The remarks reinforced statements Trump made Wednesday, when he claimed that the United States has "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz and will "keep it."
Trump said on Truth Social that the U.S. naval blockade of the waterway had been described as a "wall of steel," adding that Iran lacked the capability to challenge it.
In response, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X that "The Strait of Hormuz can be captured neither with a tweet and aircraft carriers nor by issuing orders and a stump speech. Iran is neither afraid of threats nor intimidated by displays of power."
"This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran's command," he added.
According to the official IRNA news agency, Iran's Army Chief Amir Hatami on Sunday issued a stern warning against any military mischief by the United States, adding that the Americans have effectively been expelled from the region and would no longer be allowed to enter the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman or the Strait of Hormuz. ■