The United States provided details of the 14-point memorandum of understanding it reached with Iran on Wednesday.
Neither has released a physical copy, but a US official read out the text during a call with reporters on Wednesday. Iranian officials have yet to confirm the US version of the text.
The account is the clearest yet from the administration of US President Donald Trump on the deal, which had been scheduled to be signed in a ceremony in Switzerland on Friday, but which Trump signed in Versailles on Wednesday. However, it leaves a large number of questions unanswered, experts say.
We break down what the 14-point agreement says about issues that have emerged as major sticking points during peace negotiations between the US and Iran.
What does the MoU say about Lebanon?
The first clause of the MoU states that the US and Iran have agreed to the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.
Additionally, the memorandum adds that both sides will commit to ensuring the “territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon”.
However, it makes no mention of Israel, which currently occupies one-fifth of the country and has subjected Lebanon to near-daily strikes since early March, killing at least 3,000 people and displacing more than one million from their homes.
Given that the agreement is solely between the US and Iran – Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah it is at war with are not signatories – it is unclear how a ceasefire in Lebanon would be implemented, or whether it means Iran must stop funding Hezbollah. In fact, Iran’s support for proxy groups around the region generally is not mentioned in the agreement.
Israel has stated several times this week that it will not withdraw from Lebanon.
On Monday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I are pursuing a clear policy under which the [military] will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza for an unlimited period of time in order to protect the border and Israeli communities from there against jihadist elements”.
Lebanon has been a key sticking point during negotiations. Tehran has repeatedly signalled that an end to Israeli military operations in Lebanon is a prerequisite for any broader peace deal.
The US and Iran met in Pakistan in April for the first direct talks between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. Ahead of these talks, Iranian Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, publicly stated that for Iran, a ceasefire by Israel in Lebanon and the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad were non-negotiables for Tehran. Iran has not wavered from this red line.
On April 16, Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon had reached a 10-day ceasefire to allow negotiations for a more permanent security and peace agreement to continue. That came after six weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued attacks and advances in Lebanon even throughout this week, after Washington and Tehran signalled they were close to a deal.
(Al Jazeera) What does it say about regime change in Iran?
The MoU states in its second paragraph that the US and Iran will “undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs”.
This appears to suggest that the Trump administration has relinquished any hopes of forcing regime change in Iran. In recent weeks, Trump has made attempts to distance himself from this aim in an apparent face-saving exercise.
At the G7 summit in France this week, Trump said that he “never cared about regime change” anyway, but also reiterated his claim that the assault on Iran has resulted in regime change, even though the clerical government is still firmly in place.
“You talk about regime change. I never cared about regime change. It [was] never a part.”
However, on February 28, when the US and Israel launched the first strikes on Tehran, Trump suggested that one of the aims was to force regime change. In a social media post addressed to the Iranian people, he wrote: “The hour of your freedom is at hand.”
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
What will happen to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz?
The fourth paragraph of the agreement states that the US “will begin the removal of its naval blockade” and “will fully end the naval blockade within 30 days”. It also states that the US “undertakes to remove its forces within 30 days after the final deal”.
The fifth point of the agreement states that Iran will make “its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa … Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz”.
The iss…
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