Senior U.S. officials dictated the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists Wednesday after days of secrecy, and Iran suggested that its deal with the United States could be signed by Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian.
Such an signing ceremony would represent a major step for the two countries, which saw diplomatic relations break off in 1980 over the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.
The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to read the the draft, which Iran has not released, ahead of formal signing ceremony set for Friday.
According to the officials, the draft agreement includes a new “minimum” standard for downblending of highly enriched Iranian uranium and has provisions to ensure the “territorial integrity” of Lebanon after Israel’s latest attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanese territory.
In return, the U.S. will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran once the deal is signed.
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The U.S. draft of the agreement also secures toll-free passage of the Strait of Hormuz for only 60 days, and it does not preclude fees in future, the officials said.
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Meanwhile in Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei was quoted by Iranian state television talking about the potential for the two presidents to sign the pact.
Pezeshkian became president on a promise of seeking better relations with the West. However, he’s been sidelined for months after Iran’s mass killing of protesters in January and in the war as hard-liners have taken over the levers of the country’s theocracy.
Trump cast some uncertainty on whether the signing would happen as planned. Asked how confident he was that the ceremony would take place, Trump remarked on the unpredictability of deals.
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“You never know with deals, do you? But you’re going to find out pretty soon,” he said.
The U.S. and Israel went to war on Feb. 28 in part to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon, although Trump’s goals in the conflict have repeatedly shifted. The interim deal stops the war before that aim is secured. Instead, it opens a two-month period for nuclear negotiations and appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.
The U.S. agreement to immediately allow Iran to sell its oil freely and the offer to eventually lift all sanctions, for instance, represent major concessions that go beyond the terms of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Trump withdrew America from that pact in his first term, declaring it the “worst deal ever.”
The accord likely will draw intense opposition in Washington, and it appears to be a major setback for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has come under criticism at home from the media, his opponents and even some allies as details emerge.
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Much of the agreement would restore the status quo before the war, including ending hostilities, restarting negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, and reopening the strait, which is a crucial passage for the world’s oil and natural gas and whose closure created a historic energy crisis.
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The deal includes an end to the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. That is one of the most delicate parts of the agreement because Israel has maintained it will continue to defend itself and to occupy vast swaths of Lebanon. Iran has said Israel must withdraw under the deal, although the leaked versions make no mention of withdrawal.
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A person who was briefed on the memorandum of understanding after it was signed and another who viewed a copy beforehand said it largely matched the text of what was published by the Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, which reported details of the deal Tuesday. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
Another two officials in the Mideast, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, also said the versions published by Al Arabiya and Bloomberg broadly matched the final agreement.
The White House and other American officials have not published the terms and did not immediately respond to questions.
However, White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote online Wednesday after CNN published a leaked version of the deal that it “does not reflect the language of the actual” agreement, without elaborating.
Iran also has not published an official version of the deal. The country’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, claimed Wednesday that Bloomberg’s version had missing portions, without offering…
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