Iran says US ready to negotiate, demands return to Islamabad memorandum

The significance here is less the stated US willingness to talk than the sequencing Iran is insisting on: return to the Islamabad memorandum, plus guarantees against renewed attack, before any nuclear or sanctions discussion begins. That ordering, and the demand that the blockade be lifted and oil exports allowed to flow, puts the burden on Washington to move first — a structure that historically stalls. Whether mediators Qatar and Pakistan can convert a reported message into verified concessions, and whether the memorandum is actually revived, is the open question.