US President Donald Trump stated that the United States will not seek to extend the memorandum of understanding with Iran after the established deadline expires. Trump added that Tehran wants to reach an agreement, but will not accept the conditions he considers necessary.
Trump responded to a question about the expiration of the memorandum and whether both sides have moved closer to a final agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme, saying: "They want to reach a deal, but they won't make the deal I think is necessary". He reiterated that Washington's primary objective is to prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons. "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and it will not have one," he added, noting that its ability to build a nuclear weapon would require "a long time" following previous US attacks involving B-2 bombers.
Presidential envoy Jared Kushner said in an interview with Fox News on Monday that talks between the United States and various sectors of the Iranian government are "more serious than ever", but both sides have yet to reach an understanding.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran decided to shift from a defensive policy to a "completely offensive" approach due to stalled efforts to achieve a permanent end to the war with the United States. The official added that Iranian authorities must prepare for an escalation of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the region, and that Tehran could launch a military attack "at the opportune moment and with precision" to break the US naval blockade if diplomatic efforts fail.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said that the sixty-day deadline has become "irrelevant", accusing the United States of violating the agreement weeks after it was signed. Baghaei indicated that negotiations have not begun due to what he described as extensive US violations of the agreement, which rendered the specified deadline meaningless.
The Iranian official who spoke with Reuters said that Washington must implement all provisions of the agreement within a new deadline set by Tehran that extends "a few weeks", and that its compliance will be a condition for continuing further negotiations with the United States.
Iran and Oman have been holding talks for several weeks on future arrangements for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that both sides are working on issuing a joint statement. Tehran maintains that the memorandum with the United States gives it the right to administer the maritime passage, while Washington rejects this interpretation.
Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it "obstructs" a deal that Washington seeks to reach with Iran over the strait. The president told Fox News that the United States would bomb Oman if it "gets in the way" and urged Iran to surrender.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry attributed the duration of talks with Oman to the complexity of the issues at hand and the involvement of multiple parties, as well as the presence of countries that, according to Tehran, seek to sabotage the process.
Diplomatically, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed by telephone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ensure the continuity of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States, according to a Turkish diplomatic source who provided no further details.
Tehran set conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including obtaining compensation for damage caused by the war.
Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz experienced a sharp slowdown during the weekend following attacks on oil tankers. Vessel tracking data from Kepler showed on Monday that five cargo ships crossed the strait on Saturday, with no record of crossings on Sunday, compared with 31 vessels during the previous weekend. Although it is possible that some ships crossed without being detected due to transmitter shutdowns, the recorded figures remain far below pre-war levels, when more than 130 vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz daily.
Authorities in the Iraqi Kurdistan region accused Iran of launching two drones that targeted the private office of the region's prime minister, Masrour Barzani, and the house of the head of the security and intelligence apparatus, with no reported casualties.
Barzani said in a message on platform X that investigations conducted by the Kurdistan counter-terrorism unit concluded that his personal office and the house of the head of the security and intelligence apparatus were attacked by two Iranian drones, describing what occurred as a "dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan region".
The region's counter-terrorism directorate said that two "Hadid-110" type drones loaded with explosives were launched from the Iranian side of the border towards the prime minister's office and the intelligence director's house. In Iran's first response to the attack, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei condemned the attack, describing it as a "development that raises a high degree of suspicion and requires vigilance and attention", according to Iran's official news agency IRNA.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the attack and "the actors behind it" according to a statement from his office.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry stated in a statement that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi informed his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein that "he does not possess information indicating that the attacks were launched from Iranian territory" and that "there is no justification for such acts".
Araghchi emphasised "the positive and strong relations that link the Iranian government with the government of the Kurdistan region, particularly with the two main parties of the region", one of which is the Kurdistan Democratic Party to which Barzani belongs, according to the statement.
On platform X, Araghchi said that "Kurdish friends should be careful of 'false flag' tricks designed to sow discord among neighbours".
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that Tehran will consider three missing Iranian pilots as "prisoners" in Qatar until their fate is clarified, despite Doha's denial that it is detaining them.
Iran says the pilots disappeared during an operation against the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest US military base in the Middle East, on 2 March, shortly after the outbreak of war in the Middle East.
Iranian authorities had previously announced the death of one of the pilots and the disappearance of three others following the mission, before saying for the first time on Saturday that the three pilots were captured in Qatar.
Last month, the Iranian military announced the recovery of the body of pilot Majid Kazemi, who it said was killed during the attack on the base.
However, Qatar denies it is holding them and said it extended an invitation to Iran to review the details of search and rescue operations conducted in April, but the Iranian side "has yet to respond".
