Tehran, April 18: Iran will not transfer its enriched uranium to a foreign country, and sending it to the United States has never been under consideration, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Baghaei, speaking on state-run IRIB television, said that recent public statements by Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi were made within the framework of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States announced on April 8, not as signals of a new diplomatic opening.

Earlier on Friday, Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz would remain “completely open” to commercial shipping for the duration of the current truce between Iran and the United States, Xinhua news agency reported.

Baghaei moved to clarify the foreign minister’s position, saying that following a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday, Tehran chose to apply safe-passage conditions outlined in its agreement with Washington to vessels transiting the strait.

“We have reached no new agreement,” he said. “The ceasefire agreement is the one announced on April 8.”

He accused the United States of failing, from the outset of the truce, to honor a commitment to extend its terms to Lebanon, a provision Iran insists was included in the April 8 agreement. Washington and Jerusalem have rejected that characterization.

Baghaei also warned that Iran would take “countermeasures” if a United States naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz persisted. He said no talks on extending the ceasefire had taken place, and that mediation efforts led by Pakistan remained focused on ending the conflict and protecting Iran’s interests.

Iran tightened its grip on the strait beginning February 28, when it barred safe passage to vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following joint strikes on Iranian territory. The United States subsequently imposed its own blockade, preventing ships traveling to and from Iranian ports from transiting the waterway after peace negotiations in Islamabad collapsed over the weekend.

Axios reported Friday, citing people familiar with the talks, that a second round of United States-Iran negotiations is expected to take place in Pakistan this weekend, most likely on Sunday.

Paris, April 18: French President Emmanuel Macron said that Iran’s announcement of reopening the Strait of Hormuz goes in the right direction.

Macron made the remarks in a joint declaration following a conference co-hosted by France and Britain in Paris on Friday (local time), which brought together 49 countries to discuss securing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attended the meeting, while officials from across Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East joined by video conference, reports Xinhua news agency.

Macron welcomed the ceasefire in Iran and Lebanon, describing it as a positive development. However, he stressed that it’s necessary to remain vigilant.

“We all oppose any restriction, any agreement regime that would effectively amount to an attempt to privatise the strait, and obviously any toll system,” he said.

He also announced that a neutral, independent mission would be set up to ensure the openness of the Strait of Hormuz, noting that a planning meeting was scheduled for the following week in London.

Starmer, for his part, expressed the hope that talks would resume and a lasting agreement would be reached.

He said France and Britain will lead a multinational mission to safeguard shipping as soon as conditions allow, noting that the mission will be strictly defensive and intended to reassure shipping and support mine-clearing operations.

Around a dozen countries were ready to contribute assets to the defensive mission, Starmer noted.

Meloni said that it was necessary to ensure the absence of mines and guarantee the safety of vessels transiting through the strait in order to reassure the maritime shipping sector, adding that Italy stood ready to deploy its naval units in a strictly defensive posture.

Germany “will participate in the ongoing military planning discussions” and “we would welcome, if possible, participation from the United States,” Merz said.

Jerusalem, April 17: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that even after the ceasefire with Hezbollah takes effect, Israel will maintain a 10-km security zone in southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu’s videotaped statement followed US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire, agreed to by Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, set to take effect at 5 p.m. US Eastern Time (2100 GMT).

The Israeli prime minister noted that he had rejected Hezbollah’s demand for an Israeli withdrawal to the international border, and that Israeli forces would remain in a security zone in Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported.

He argued that this buffer zone would help prevent “invasions” and anti-tank fire into northern Israeli communities.

Netanyahu also said, “We have an opportunity to make a historic peace agreement with Lebanon,” adding that Trump intends to invite him and Aoun to advance such a deal.

He claimed that this opportunity exists because Israel has fundamentally changed the balance of power in Lebanon, noting that Israel has received calls from Lebanon over the past month for direct peace talks.

The prime minister noted that Israel has two main demands in these talks — the disarmament of Hezbollah and a lasting peace agreement.

Turning to Iran, Netanyahu claimed that Trump told him that he was “tremendously determined to continue both the naval blockade and to dismantle Iran’s nuclear capability, what is left of it.”

He described these as “two very important moves that could fundamentally change our security and political situation for years to come.”

Trump on Thursday announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon aimed at bringing a temporary cooling-off along another front linked to the Iran conflict.

He said that after speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, the two sides agreed to a 10-day ceasefire beginning at 5 p.m. Washington time.

The ceasefire is expected to pause hostilities that escalated when Israel opened a new front targeting Iran-affiliated Hezbollah.

Lebanon is not directly engaged in a formal war with Israel, but Hezbollah controls large parts of southern Lebanon and has carried out attacks on Israel, prompting retaliatory strikes.