Several sources indicate that what the Revolutionary Guard primarily sought from the negotiators was progress toward “ending the war” and establishing sovereignty—already effectively exercised—over the Strait of Hormuz. However, the text of the “Memorandum of Understanding” has itself become a tool in factional struggle, with criticism escalating into accusations of “treason” and “disobedience to the leader,” alongside populist rejection of negotiation on the grounds that it is unacceptable to “reach an understanding with the killer of the martyr leader.”
