Efforts to reach an interim deal to end hostilities between Iran and the US have intensified, with the warring parties discussing how to release frozen Iranian funds.
Three Iranian sources said a political understanding had been reached, but some issues remained to be discussed in detail, including a mechanism for the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.
“Iran wants $6 billion to $12bn of its frozen funds to be released to Tehran, while Washington wants to release funds in stages for humanitarian goods and rejects returning funds to Iran outright,” said one of the Iranian sources.
Another Iranian official said discussions continued over the amount of frozen assets to be released immediately and a guaranteed timetable for the payment of the remaining $12bn of Iran’s funds within a 60-day period.
A senior European official said: “Right now, talks are focusing very precisely on the technical details and the financial amount – in short, the level of liquidity available to Iran.”
A US source familiar with the matter also confirmed that messages were still being exchanged, and that a political understanding had been reached but that the mechanism around frozen funds was still being ironed out.
The framework of an interim deal would centre on a temporary easing of Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz and phased access through the waterway, while ending a US blockade on Iranian ports.
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