Rashid Al-Mohannadi, the vice president at the Centre for International Policy Research, tells Al Jazeera that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Iran and the US still has some utility in finding a solution to the war, despite having expired today.

“I wouldn’t say that the MoU doesn’t matter; it is still the basis for continuing discussions and it does offer some terms that initially were mutually agreeable between both parties”, Al-Mohannadi says, adding that the issue lies in a lack of consensus within Iran on the Strait of Hormuz.

He adds that there are “multiple positions on the strait: from the extreme, which is [that] Iran should have full sovereignty and control, to something in the middle where a regional consensus is acceptable, to the more softer views, which is that the Strait is being used as a negotiation card”.