The MoU lies ...
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Repeating that experience while Iranian soil is still exposed to direct military action would not constitute prudence; it would compound a known vulnerability.
Iran’s negotiation team carry a specific institutional responsibility in this context. The team’s function extends beyond managing procedural steps to safeguarding the integrity of Iran’s core positions and the credibility of its deterrence posture. Continued engagement under present conditions produces three measurable harms. It risks fracturing domestic and elite consensus at a moment when cohesion is indispensable. It cedes control of the international narrative to the United States, which can portray Iran as the party obstructing diplomacy while its own actions violate the ceasefire and economic provisions. Most dangerously, it generates incremental momentum towards concessions on the nuclear file without any corresponding, irreversible American steps on the military or sanctions tracks. Any resumption of talks in the current environment will be interpreted in Washington and allied capitals as confirmation that Iranian resistance has defined limits and can be eroded through calibrated aggression.
The United States has violated not only the specific terms of the MoU but the elementary prerequisites of good-faith diplomacy. Its conduct reveals a consistent pattern in which agreements are treated as tactical pauses rather than binding constraints. The 2018 withdrawal from the JCPOA despite Iran’s verified compliance, followed by the current post-MoU strikes and sanctions reversals, demonstrates that American commitments remain subject to unilateral revision whenever domestic or regional calculations shift. Under these circumstances, continued participation in the present negotiation track does not advance Iranian security; it subsidises American pressure and erodes the very leverage Iran seeks to preserve.
A rational response, therefore, requires clarity. Iran should record the material breaches, declare the relevant provisions of the MoU suspended or terminated as a direct consequence of US conduct, and redirect national effort towards the consolidation of military readiness, economic resilience, and strategic partnerships. Future engagement, should conditions change, must be predicated on verifiable prior actions by the United States: sustained cessation of military operations, full restoration of economic measures, and credible guarantees against renewed coercion. Until those conditions exist, the only coherent course is to treat the agreement as having been rendered void by the party that systematically violated it. Iran’s negotiation team has a professional obligation to present this assessment without equivocation.