Iran reports progress in Swiss technical talks with US
Iranian officials said talks in Switzerland set up working groups for negotiations tied to a June 17 memorandum with Washington.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Iran said technical discussions with the United States and mediators in Switzerland ended with agreement on how to continue negotiations, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency. The talks are part of efforts to end what Al Jazeera described as a war lasting more than 100 days.
IRNA reported Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi led Iran’s technical negotiating team. Gharibabadi said the four-party meeting produced understandings on the structure for the next stage, including working groups and methods for carrying out future commitments.
The technical session followed a high-level committee meeting held Sunday to oversee the implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, according to IRNA. Al Jazeera reported that the framework agreement was signed virtually by the US and Iranian presidents on June 17 with the aim of ending the war.
Gharibabadi said the talks focused on how to implement both the memorandum and the statement issued after the high-level meeting. He said the sides reached the understandings needed for that work, according to IRNA.
Frozen funds and oil waiver
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Ghalibaf, said earlier that Tehran and Washington had agreed on the release of $12bn in frozen Iranian assets, Al Jazeera reported. Ghalibaf is also speaker of Iran’s parliament.
US President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office that the released funds would be used to buy US agricultural products. Trump said Iran would buy food exclusively through the United States, including corn and soybeans from American farmers.
Trump also said negotiations were going well and described the potential arrangement as fair and reasonable. The US Department of the Treasury separately announced a 60-day waiver allowing Iran to sell oil and petrochemical products, according to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, said the waiver marked a reversal of US policy on sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry. Fisher said Iran had sold oil despite sanctions for years, but often at steep discounts because buyers feared US penalties.
Fisher said the waiver could allow Iran to sell oil at full price and bring hundreds of millions of dollars into its economy. He added that US officials still say Iran must meet benchmarks before other sanctions are lifted.
Strait of Hormuz
Al Jazeera reported that Tehran has agreed to create a communication channel with Washington to help protect safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway carries about one-fifth of global energy exports, according to the report.
Ghalibaf said the strait would not return to its previous status after the conflict. Speaking on his way back from the Switzerland talks, he said Iran would comply with international law while changing how the waterway is administered.
Al Jazeera reported that Tehran had asserted control over the narrow strait by attacking or threatening vessels attempting to pass through, as part of its response to the US-Israel war on Iran.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.