Iran Says It Will Return to Ceasefire if US Does
Tehran Extends Conditional Olive Branch as Strait of Hormuz Tensions Persist
Kabarsaji.com – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared on Tuesday that his government stands ready to re-enter the framework of the interim ceasefire arrangement, provided Washington first honors its original obligations under the collapsed memorandum of understanding. Speaking from the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Pezeshkian framed the offer as a straightforward matter of reciprocity rather than unilateral concession.
"I state explicitly that if the United States returns to its commitments under the ... memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take reciprocal action."
The remark lands at a particularly volatile juncture. The interim deal, which had briefly halted hostilities between the two powers, disintegrated in June amid mutual accusations of breach. At that point, American forces launched strikes against Iranian military targets, citing what Washington described as "continued aggression" against commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Among the incidents cited was an Iranian drone strike on a tanker flying the Panamanian flag, an event that sharpened the dispute over freedom of navigation in one of the world's most critical petroleum corridors.
The Ceasefire's Collapse and the Hormuz Question
Since the agreement fell apart, Tehran has maintained a consistent public position: it will permit vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, but only under conditions it deems acceptable. That stance has kept a diplomatic resolution to the broader conflict out of reach. The strait handles roughly a fifth of global oil shipments, and any sustained disruption carries immediate consequences for energy markets, shipping insurance rates, and the economies of Gulf states that depend on the waterway for exports. Analysts note that Iran's insistence on defining the terms of passage effectively converts a navigational question into a geopolitical lever, one that neither side appears willing to relinquish.
Recent Exchanges of Fire
Pezeshkian's conditional overture came within days of the first direct military exchange between the two countries in more than a month. On Sunday, the United States announced it had struck Iranian minelaying units positioned on Larak Island, a small landmass sitting at the narrowest point of the strait. Iran responded by targeting American military assets stationed across the Middle East. The episode marked a sharp escalation from the weeks of relative quiet that had followed the June breakdown.
President Donald Trump addressed reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, confirming that a "response" to the Iranian retaliatory strikes would follow. At the same time, he sought to draw a line between limited tit-for-tat action and a full return to open warfare, insisting the latest strikes did not signal a resumption of comprehensive hostilities. That distinction, however, remains difficult to verify in practice, given that both sides retain the capacity to escalate rapidly in a theater where naval forces operate in close proximity.
The SCO Summit as Diplomatic Backdrop
The timing of Pezeshkian's statement is inseparable from the multilateral setting in which it was delivered. The SCO summit in Bishkek brought together leaders from a bloc that Moscow and Beijing have cultivated as a counterweight to Western-dominated institutions. Although the organization has historically functioned primarily as a forum for economic coordination, both capitals have worked in recent years to elevate its political and security significance.
Earlier in the summit schedule, Russian President Vladimir Putin held bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi characterized the bilateral partnership as having grown "more solid," adding that its "prospects will be even brighter." Putin, for his part, described the two nations' cooperation as "successfully developing on all fronts." The exchange occurred against the backdrop of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has now persisted for more than four years. China has provided Russia with implicit economic underpinning throughout the conflict, a relationship that Beijing frames as a natural alignment of interests rather than a formal military alliance.
Pezeshkian was scheduled to meet Putin later on Tuesday, a bilateral session that observers watched for signals on whether Tehran would coordinate its Hormuz posture more closely with Moscow's broader strategic calculus. Iran's participation in the SCO, alongside members including India and Pakistan, and dialogue partners such as Turkey and Qatar, gives it a multilateral platform from which to project diplomatic weight even while bilateral negotiations with Washington remain stalled.
What Comes Next
The conditional language Pezeshkian employed leaves the initiative formally with Washington. Tehran's position is that the burden of restoration rests on the United States to demonstrate good faith first. Whether that sequencing is acceptable to the American side, or whether both governments might instead pursue a parallel de-escalation without formally reopening the memorandum's text, remains an open question. For now, the Strait of Hormuz continues to operate under a fragile and contested set of rules, and the diplomatic track that might replace them shows no clear momentum.
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