President Donald Trump is weighing a 60-day deal agreed upon by U.S. and Iranian negotiators to extend the shaky ceasefire between the warring nations and reopen the Strait of Hormuz while setting up further negotiations towards agreements on Tehran’s nuclear program, U.S. officials confirmed to The Independent on Thursday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that American and Iranian negotiators had agreed on a 60-day memorandum of understanding under which Iran would remove mines placed in the strait and agree not to harass any commercial shipping or demand tolls for passage through the key maritime chokepoint. In return, the U.S. would end the blockade it has kept on Iranian ports as shipping through the strait resumes.
The proposed memorandum also states that Iran would commit not to pursue nuclear weapons and enter into talks about disposal of the Islamic Republic’s supply of uranium that has already been enriched to near-weapons grade. Those talks would be the first order of business for any negotiations conducted during the 60-day window of the proposed deal.
It additionally declares that the war between Israel and Hezbollah that has devastated much of southern Lebanon would come to an end.
In return for the commitments to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and forswear nuclear weapons development, the U.S. would release frozen Iranian funds and open discussions about sanctions relief, as well as enter discussions on a mechanism to permit Iran to receive humanitarian aid and other needed goods.
According to Axios, Trump was briefed on details of the proposed deal two days ago, at which point he said he needed “a couple of days to think about it.”
News of the tentative deal to end the impasse over the Strait of Hormuz and begin further talks while extending the ceasefire comes just a day after Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting that he believed Iran was keen on striking an agreement of some sort.
He said Tehran did not “have a choice” but to do so because “they’re getting clobbered” and the Iranian economy is “in freefall.”
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