Photo : YONHAP News
Anchor: A preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran has reportedly been reached in relation to ending the war. While the U.S. claims the agreement would require Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Iran says no deal is imminent and the two sides are not talking about nuclear issues.
Yun Sohyang has more.
Report: Iran’s foreign ministry has confirmed that broad progress has been made in negotiations with the United States over a memorandum of understanding to end the war, but stressed this does not mean that its signing is imminent.
According to Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday, the two countries have reached consensus on a large portion of the discussion topics but with a focus on ending the war, not nuclear issues.
This comes after the Washington Post, citing a senior U.S. administration official, said the two countries had developed a memorandum of understanding framework to extend the existing ceasefire by 60 days while negotiations toward a permanent settlement continue.
Under the proposed framework, the U.S. side claims Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz immediately upon signing and take steps to restore shipping traffic to prewar levels within 30 days.
It says Iran would also reaffirm its commitment to never develop nuclear weapons, with its enriched uranium stockpile to be disposed of through a method agreed upon by both sides.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signaled that reopening the strait could come first, with the question of how to handle Iran’s enriched uranium left for later rounds of talks.
[Sound bite: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio]
“We’ve made some progress, over the last 48 hours, working with our partners in the Gulf region, on an outline that could ultimately, if it succeeds, leave us not just with a completely open straits, and I mean open straits without tolls, and with addressing some of the key things that underpin what has been Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions in the past. … Obviously that will require full Iranian acceptance and then compliance, and it will require some future work on negotiating the details.”
Baghaei, however, drew a clear line on the scope of the current talks, saying nuclear issues are not on the table at this stage.
The memorandum still requires approval both from U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Yun Sohyang, KBS World Radio News.