Iranian Ambassador says that "The United States is not demonstrating serious political will to negotiate with Iran", Tass reports

Rhetoric of this kind from Iranian officials, channelled through Russian state wire services, has been a recurring feature of negotiating standoffs and has historically been treated as positioning rather than policy. Statements delivered by an ambassador in Moscow carry less weight than those from Tehran's foreign ministry or the Supreme Leader's office, and comparable remarks in past cycles have tended to precede both breakdowns and resumptions of talks, making them a weak standalone signal. The transmission channel into crude is the diplomatic track around sanctions relief and Iranian export volumes: hardening language erodes the probability assigned to additional barrels reaching the market, which shows up in the prompt end of the curve and in Middle East differentials rather than as a directional shift in flat price. The established pattern is that crude pays attention to tangible moves, enrichment steps, shipping incidents, inspection disputes, while verbal exchanges produce brief, faded responses. The tells worth noting are whether the language is echoed by more senior figures in Tehran, whether it coincides with changes in negotiating schedules, and whether Russian intermediation shifts in tone, since Moscow has historically used such commentary to insert itself into the track.