Iran denies talks on ceasefire extension

Iran has denied that it and the United States have discussed extending their ceasefire. A senior Iranian official said that from Tehran's perspective, the deal had no start date and therefore had nothing to extend. This contradicts a report by Turkey's Anadolu news agency, citing Pakistani government sources, that Tehran and Washington had agreed to extend a 60-day ceasefire under their interim deal signed in June.

The interim deal, which declared an "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts", quickly unraveled. US President Donald Trump said it was "over" on July 7 and Iran's foreign ministry declared it "suspended" a week later. According to the Iranian source, the US violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached and withdrew from it a few days later.

The Iranian official emphasized that there is no talk of an extension because, from Iran's perspective, there is no period that began and therefore nothing to extend. The focus is now on a return to the memorandum of understanding, the official told Reuters.

Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Times, Jerusalem Post, Adom Online, Business Recorder, Ajel English — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.