The US and Iran are approaching an agreement to transform the ceasefire into a lasting solution. Hormuz, uranium, sanctions and frozen assets are at the center of negotiations
UPDATED
Iran and the United States have shown signs that they are moving closer to an agreement to transform the current ceasefire, which ended weeks of conflict, into a more lasting understanding.
Both sides are talking about a “memorandum of understanding” that should establish a roadmap to resolve all issues still open, although the agreement remains a “work in progress”, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Either we’re going to get a good deal or we’re going to have to deal with this differently,” Rubio said during a visit to India on Monday.
But the content of that memo remains unclear.
The main objective of the memorandum is that, once signed, it will put an end to the fighting – something that would be welcomed by both parties, at a time when US President Donald Trump faces mid-term elections at the end of this year, under pressure due to the sharp rise in fuel prices, while the Iranian economy is going through a crisis.
The agreement should then allow for the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the US blockade of Iranian ports and begin a 60-day process to resolve other issues, especially Iran’s nuclear program.
Marco Rubio stated that there is “a very solid proposal on the table” regarding the reopening of the strait and Iran’s entry into “real, serious and time-bound negotiations on nuclear issues”.
A senior US administration official told CNN on Sunday that the framework agreement gives the parties “60 days to reach the final points of the agreement.”
According to the US official, the potential agreement would guarantee that Iran will never be able to possess a nuclear weapon and would force Tehran to give up highly enriched uranium, often described by the US president as “nuclear dust”.
How these reserves will be eliminated should be discussed in the next phase of negotiations.
“The most important thing in this model is that if Iran doesn’t comply, it gets nothing. No dust, no money. As the Strait [de Ormuz] reopen, the lockdown will be lifted proportionately,” the official said. “This is ‘trust but verify’ taken to the extreme.”
But as of Wednesday, the framework for the agreement had not yet been finalized, and Iranian state television said Tehran would not take any steps without “tangible verification.” Negotiations “continue in a process of advances and setbacks, with both sides adjusting the wording of the preliminary text”, he added.
After stating that the agreement was “largely negotiated”, Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States will not rush an understanding with Iran.
“If you make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper deal, not like the one Obama made,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday, adding that this understanding gave Iran “a clear and open path to obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
