Iran says US license revocation will derail nuclear talks

WASHINGTON, United States — An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said the US Treasury Department’s decision to revoke a general license permitting the sale of Iranian oil would drive nuclear negotiations to failure. Speaking on Iranian state television, Mohsen Rezaei said Washington was also attempting to create an alternative passage in the Strait of Hormuz for its own vessels. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would honor a memorandum of understanding but would not accept deviations from promised commitments. He said Iran had fulfilled its obligations in good faith while the United States had not upheld its pledges. Iran’s Foreign Ministry expressed regret over Qatar’s account that a Qatari vessel had been targeted in the Strait of Hormuz, saying that the behavior of some ships in the waterway was making navigation dangerous. The Treasury Department revoked the oil-sales license in response to the targeting of tankers near the strait. A Qatari liquefied natural gas carrier and a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker were damaged in the area following reports that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had fired missiles at two ships. The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of global oil trade and a large share of liquefied natural gas exports from the Gulf region.