Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday defended Tehran's expired Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States as the best option for ending hostilities between the two nations, which Pezeshkian described as being "neither war nor peace."
Pezeshkian said members of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) agreed with the assessment on the basis of, "dignity, wisdom and national interest."
"There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation," Pezeshkian said in remarks published by state-run news agency IRNA. "The supreme leader sets the policies, and we will follow that path."
The MoU, signed by US President Donald Trump in June, laid out a 60-day timeline for ending the US-Israeli-led conflict as well as ensuring that Iran give up its nuclear ambitions.
The deadline passed last week with no signs of compromise by either side, and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz — which Iran closed in response to US-Israeli attacks, putting the global economy in a chokehold for the past six months — still unresolved.
