Washington (United States) (AFP) – The United States said Monday that ships will move toll-free through the Strait of Hormuz under an Iran peace deal signed by President Donald Trump. The U.S. insisted Tehran would have to fulfill its commitments before receiving any economic benefits. These benefits included a possible $300 billion reconstruction fund for the war-battered country, but the release of funds will be “tied to performance,” a senior Trump administration official said during a call with reporters.
Trump, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf electronically signed the so-called memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Sunday, according to the officials. “The president wanted to sign it personally because he wanted to show his dedication to the process,” one of the U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity. However, Vance admitted that the brief outline deal kicks the thorniest issues—especially Iran’s nuclear program—down the road. “The MoU is about a page and a half, so it is a very general document,” Vance told CNN. Vance will lead technical talks this week and attend a physical signing ceremony expected in Geneva, Switzerland. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will also be present.
Trump, who is attending the G7 summit in France, said the text would likely be released after Friday; however, U.S. officials indicated it would be “put out in the next 24-48 hours.”
The signing will kick off a 60-day period in which Iran and the United States will attempt to hammer out a full-scale peace deal. “We want to put the nuclear discussions up front,” a U.S. official said during the call. Yet, the bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz remains an immediate priority due to the global economic implications of the spike in oil prices. Vance noted there was an understanding with Iran that the strait would reopen “in a toll-free way for the long term,” emphasizing that this would be addressed in the technical negotiations. Trump himself stated that the critical strait would be “completely open” from Friday, but he added there was still “hunting” going on to ensure it was de-mined. Shipping traffic should return to pre-war levels “over the next couple of weeks,” according to the first U.S. official, who noted a “substantial increase in traffic” already observed. However, Iran’s foreign ministry stated Monday that the deal would allow it to charge maritime service fees on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, rather than imposing “tolls.”
Uncertainty also surrounds other key aspects of the deal, including Iran’s access to its frozen funds and relief from international and U.S. sanctions. This issue is politically sensitive for Trump, given his allegations that an Iran deal signed under Democratic President Barack Obama—which Trump scrapped in 2018—provided Tehran with too much money. “The very simple fact is zero dollars of frozen assets have been released by the United States or any other country,” the first U.S. official stated. “We discussed the possibility of releasing frozen funds, sanctions relief, a big $300 billion fund to rebuild their country, and all of these things are going to be tied to performance,” added the second official.
Moreover, U.S. officials expressed dissatisfaction with the former mediator Oman, which sits across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran and was threatened by Trump last month. “We were very unhappy with the job the Omanis did,” the second official said, adding, “We felt they were very duplicitous, almost like employees of the Iranians.”
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