UN urges US, Iran to resume talks as war enters sixth month

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the United States and Iran to resume negotiations to end their conflict through diplomacy, his spokesman said Friday.

Asked about the secretary-general's view on the stalled talks between the United States and Iran six months into the war, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, said: "This is a sad marker of six months of this ongoing conflict. We again stress that the only solution to this is a diplomatic solution. And we urge both the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to engage in meaningful negotiations."

The United Nations is very supportive of the mediation efforts of Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Dujarric said, adding that the secretary-general has been very much staying in touch with them.

What is clear and what continues to be concerning for the secretary-general is the devastating humanitarian and economic consequences of this conflict, including the global economic impact on food supplies, humanitarian goods that cannot go in, fertilizers that have been limited, the rise in the price of energy, he said.

The secretary-general's personal envoy for this conflict, Jean Arnault, remains available and in contact to assist the parties and mediators in reaching a durable solution, said the spokesman.

The United States and Israel launched military attacks against Iran on February 28. In retaliation, Iran attacked Israel and US assets across the Middle East.

The Strait of Hormuz, a major maritime chokepoint for global energy trade, has been largely blocked, severely disrupting the flow of oil and other commodities.

On June 18, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding, under which the two countries were scheduled to hold negotiations within 60 days to reach a final agreement. However, the fate of the talks remains unclear following renewed escalation between the two countries.

'Economic D-Day'

With negotiations at an impasse, US President Donald Trump's administration has stepped up efforts to pressure Iran financially, rolling out harsh sanctions that it has billed as an "economic D-Day."

Washington has also warned countries to cut their business ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions, though the Treasury Department stopped short of actually imposing penalties.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the sanctions as "state terrorism" and said other countries were legally obliged not to implement them.

The sanctions drive compounds the toll of the war on Iran's economy, where annual inflation hit 66% last month.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media that foreign trade had shrunk by nearly 35% because of US sanctions and a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran sold about 90 million barrels of oil during the short-lived memorandum of understanding that the US and Iran signed in June, when Washington permitted Iranian oil sales, Pezeshkian said.

Diplomatic push ongoing

With the US focused on its economic pressure campaign, others have sought to revive diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he had stressed during talks with Iranian leaders in Tehran on Thursday the importance of returning to the pre-war status of open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Friday described the talks with Al Thani as "creative.”

Qatar, a US ally, and Pakistan helped broker the June memorandum of understanding that led to a brief ceasefire before disagreements over the strait caused it to unravel.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on Thursday Iran was preparing a list of conditions for reopening the strait. In the past, Iran's conditions have included an end to the US blockade on Iranian ports, compensation and removal of sanctions.

US military commanders say American forces have cleared sea mines from the strait that had been laid months ago by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Trump has repeatedly said the strait is open, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' navy said in a statement that US claims the strait was open "are an obvious lie," reiterating that the waterway remained closed to ships without Iranian permission.

Many vessels have opted against sailing through it because of Iranian threats. Preliminary shipping data released on Friday showed that only seven commodity vessels had transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, down from 17 a day earlier and below the 10-day average of 15.

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)