Guterres Condoles Iran Over Khamenei as MoU Talks Continue

Iran's Foreign Ministry said Thursday night that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke by phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and renewed condolences over Ali Khamenei's death. JPost and Anadolu confirmed the same readout: the call also covered the Strait of Hormuz, implementation of the Lebanon framework and talks linked to the U.S.-Iran MoU. The diplomacy matters because Tehran is trying to use mourning week to keep leverage over shipping and Hezbollah. Israel should judge any UN channel by whether it restrains Iran's nuclear, missile and proxy networks, not by protocol gestures to the regime.