IRAN'S PRESIDENT DENIES RESIGNATION CLAIMS AMID HORMUZ STRAIT TALKS

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's president, has denied claims that he repeatedly threatened to resign during negotiations over the strait of Hormuz. The resignation claims, which became front-page news in Iran, were made by Mohammad Bagher Kharazi, described as linked by marriage to Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader. Pezeshkian said in a television interview marking his second anniversary in office: "If I want to resign, I will officially announce that I have resigned. I will not resign, I will stand." Khamenei's office stated the resignation claims were "fundamentally false and untrue".

Kharazi had claimed Pezeshkian became frustrated at being excluded from decision-making, compounded by the supreme leader's reluctance to reveal his whereabouts. Khamenei was injured in an Israeli bombing at the start of the war that killed his father and has not been seen or heard in public since. Kharazi alleged Pezeshkian threatened to quit repeatedly, prompting Khamenei to warn he would accept the next resignation threat. Pezeshkian insists he remains in complete harmony with the military and accused some of attempting to create an internal rift.

Negotiations over the strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping channel, continue involving the US, Europe and Oman. According to Iran's Foreign Ministry, talks have "been assessed positively at both the technical and political levels" to manage safe traffic flow. The proposed arrangement would see ships enter the strait on a route close to Iran but leave via a route passing through Iranian and Omani waters. Officials in Muscat reportedly fear such an agreement could leave Iran retaining near-permanent dominance of the waterway.