The first day of direct talks between the United States and Iran in Switzerland produced tangible but limited steps toward a broader deal, including a temporary US waiver on Iranian oil sanctions and a new channel meant to reduce risks in the Strait of Hormuz.
But the early optimism came with a central problem: Washington and Tehran are describing parts of the outcome differently. The sharpest disputes concern whether Iran agreed to let international nuclear inspectors return and whether frozen Iranian assets will be released with US controls attached.
Where the sides appear aligned
The United States has waived sanctions on Iranian oil for 60 days, a move reported to free up an estimated 67 million barrels of oil being held on boats and tankers in the Gulf. Iran’s oil exports and petrochemical sales have been among the core economic issues in the talks, and sanctions relief has long been a central demand from Tehran.
Mediators Qatar and Pakistan said in a joint statement that negotiators had also agreed on a structure for the next phase of talks. “Chief negotiators will report regularly to the High Level Committee and lead working groups focused on nuclear, sanctions, and a monitoring and dispute resolution group to ensure the effective implementation of the MoU, and on other matters,” the statement said.
The two sides also established a communication line related to the Strait of Hormuz, aimed at avoiding incidents and miscommunication and keeping commercial vessels moving safely through the waterway. Iran closed the strait after US-Israeli attacks began at the end of February, a move that jolted energy markets. In peacetime, the route carries about 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas shipments.
Where the accounts diverge
One major disagreement is over Iranian funds frozen abroad. Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Monday that the United States had agreed to release $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Washington has not confirmed that figure.
US officials instead emphasized restrictions on any released funds. Vice President JD Vance said that if Iranian assets are unfrozen, they would be used to buy US agricultural products. President Donald Trump said the money or sanctions relief would go into US-controlled escrow for purchases of food and medical supplies, including American corn, wheat and soybeans.
Iran rejected the idea that the funds would be limited to US goods. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the assets would be released and used with “absolute liberty” by Iran to buy goods and commodities needed by the country.
The more consequential dispute is over nuclear inspections. Vance said Iran had agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country, calling it a major step toward ending what he described as an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Trump later insisted that Iran had agreed to long-term, high-level nuclear inspections and said negotiations would not continue without that commitment.
Iranian officials denied that such a schedule had been set. Baghaei said Iran had not met with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and had no clear timetable for IAEA inspectors to examine Iranian nuclear facilities.
What remains unsettled
The talks are still at an early stage, and several of the hardest issues have not been resolved. Those include the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and the precise scope of sanctions relief in any final agreement.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium only to 3.67 percent, a level associated with civilian nuclear power. Trump withdrew the United States from that agreement in 2018. Since then, Iran is believed to have resumed higher-level enrichment and currently holds 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, below weapons-grade levels but much closer to the threshold than the old deal allowed.
The United States has called for Iran to hand over its enriched uranium stockpile. Iran has consistently said it will not do so, though it has at times appeared open to other options, including transferring material to a third country or diluting it inside Iran.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said technical-level discussions were continuing and that working groups on sanctions and nuclear issues would be established in the coming days. The next test is whether those groups can turn the first day’s limited understandings into a shared text on the issues both sides are still presenting in sharply different terms.
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