President Masoud Pezeshkian stated on 29 June that Iran will fulfil its commitments under the 18 June memorandum of understanding (MoU) only if the United States does the same, framing the agreement as a “two-way matter” in a post on X. The declaration came as the two governments offered conflicting accounts of the purpose of a planned encounter in Doha. According to Iranian officials, a delegation of experts will travel to Qatar solely to pursue the implementation of existing clauses—particularly Article 11 on the release of frozen assets—and no new negotiations are scheduled. Washington, by contrast, has described the meeting as a potential step toward denuclearisation, with President Donald Trump asserting that Iran “agreed” not to possess nuclear weapons, a characterisation Tehran has not endorsed.

Viewed from Washington, the MoU is a framework whose durability depends on verifiable Iranian compliance. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any release of funds for humanitarian purchases would be “linked to performance and implementation of the MOU by Iran.” The White House has dispatched special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser Jared Kushner to Doha, signalling that it regards the technical talks as a channel to test Iranian intentions. The US also maintains that the MoU obliges Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, halt military actions, and accept constraints on its nuclear programme, including a suspension of uranium enrichment for a period of five to fifteen years and the transfer of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

The diplomatic manoeuvring follows a sequence of military exchanges that tested the ceasefire established by the Islamabad-signed MoU. The US Central Command reported strikes on Iranian surveillance infrastructure, air-defence facilities and drone depots near the Strait of Hormuz on 27 June, describing them as a direct response to an alleged Iranian drone attack on a commercial vessel two days earlier. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps retaliated on 28 June with strikes on US military targets in Kuwait and Bahrain, which Tehran’s foreign ministry called a response to a “flagrant violation” of the agreement. Both sides subsequently agreed to a temporary halt to retaliatory operations, and technical discussions on implementation are said to be proceeding “as planned,” according to a US official cited by CNN.

The MoU, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, ended weeks of direct military confrontation and established a 30-day window for negotiating a comprehensive settlement. Its initial provisions cover maritime security, oil exports and asset release, while broader issues—including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme—are contingent on the fulfilment of these early steps. Moscow has welcomed the accord, noting the role of Pakistani and Qatari intermediaries. The state of the dossier remains precarious: no high-level negotiating sessions are scheduled, and the divergence between Washington’s public emphasis on denuclearisation and Tehran’s insistence on a strictly implementation-focused agenda leaves the next phase of the process dependent on the outcome of the expert-level contacts in Doha.