IRAN’S top diplomat today accused the Israelis of sabotaging the ceasefire deal agreed with the United States.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel was actively undermining efforts to bring about a diplomatic solution to the illegal and unprovoked war launched by Washington and Tel Aviv on February 28.

It comes as the truce agreed between Iran and the US under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in June expired and ships came under attack attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Araghchi told the IRNA news agency that Israel “was and remains the biggest opponent and obstacle to the implementation of the memorandum of understanding.”

He said: “They made every effort to prevent such an agreement from being reached, every effort to make this agreement fail, and every effort to prevent it from being implemented.”

Mr Araghchi added that the demand by US President Donald Trump for an “unconditional surrender” from Iran failed to materialise as Tehran ultimately accepted a ceasefire and conducted negotiations with the US on its own terms.

According to the IRNA report, Mr Araghchi said those who “sought an unconditional surrender, within a short time of the war’s commencement, were begging for negotiations.”

“It was us who said we would not accept a ceasefire and continued the war until we reached a point where they accepted a ceasefire and negotiations on Iran’s terms,” he said.

Iran says the US must meet the terms of the MoU before the strategically important Strait of Hormuz can be reopened.

Iran’s parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “Until the commitments made by the US in the MoU, including the lifting of the blockade, the release of frozen assets, the lifting of oil sanctions, the end of threats and military operations on all fronts, and other conditions to which the US agreed in the MoU, are implemented, the strait will not be opened.”

As if to underline the point, a ship was hit by a projectile early today as it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations centre.

An unidentified projectile damaged the engine room of a ship and “resulted in a crew casualty” early this morning as the vessel was trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman, the UKMTO said.

The maritime monitoring agency did not release any details about the ship, its cargo or the crew member. 

It said authorities were investigating the incident.