IRAN said Sunday that indirect communications with the United States remain ongoing through mediators despite recent tensions, while accusing Washington of violating a bilateral memorandum of understanding and reaffirming that safeguarding the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity remains Tehran's top priority.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States is exchanging messages with Iran through mediators, including Pakistan and Qatar, according to Iranian media reports, citing his remarks in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Baghaei said Iran's immediate priority is "to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and protect its people against the war crimes that are being perpetrated by the United States."
He added that the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States is a brief document consisting of only 14 clauses rather than a lengthy and complex agreement.
The international community had expected the United States to honor its commitments "at least this time," Baghaei said, accusing Washington of openly violating multiple provisions of the memorandum, which marked the "third diplomatic betrayal"
Also on Sunday, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran's Khuzestan Province said that more than 288 U.S. military targets across the Middle East were struck during the recent conflict between Iran and the United States.
The commander also claimed that in one recent operation, more than 11 aircraft were destroyed at a U.S. military base in Jordan, with numerous facilities and drones also damaged.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department's Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) updated its casualty statistics on Sunday, showing that U.S. military casualties have reached 642, including 18 deaths, since the United States and Israel jointly launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on Feb. 28.
