US forces patrol the Arabian Sea near M/V Touska after firing upon the Iranian-flagged vessel that the US accused of attempting to violate the US naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
Handout Photo by the US Navy via Getty Images
- The US allowed Iranian supertankers to exit the Strait of Hormuz.
- US and Iranian negotiators are set to sign a peace deal on Friday.
- Israel conducted new strikes on southern Lebanon.
The first tankers carrying Iranian oil exited a US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a tracking website said on Wednesday, two days before Washington and Tehran launch talks on an agreed peace deal still scant on details, including Iran’s nuclear programme and the lifting of sanctions.
The talks on a final settlement are set to begin Friday at Switzerland’s Burgenstock mountain resort, as news that the Hormuz Strait will reopen sent world oil prices tumbling.
Optimism that the war triggered by the 28 February US-Israeli strikes on Tehran might be coming to an end was dented, however, by fresh Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.
The TankerTrackers website, which monitors oil shipments and storage, marked Iran’s “first crude oil exports in two months”, citing digital tracking data corroborated by satellite imagery.
“At least two National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) VLCC supertankers named DIONA (9569695) and HERO2 (9362073) have exited the US Navy blockade perimeter carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil between them,” TankerTrackers said on X, later adding that a third tanker had exited.
READ | Iran scores $300 billion investment fund as incentive to end war with US, Israel
Negotiations over a final deal are to start immediately after the Swiss signing ceremony and continue during a 60-day window, leading to decisions on the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme and a plan for the lifting of international economic sanctions, officials said.
The US will allow Iran to immediately begin selling oil and fuel under the deal to end the war, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the agreement.
Wow.
Iran gets sanctions relief, the release of frozen funds, the ability to export oil, and a $300 billion reconstruction fund.
The U.S. gets a reiteration of the vague promise Iran won’t develop a nuke.
Hard to imagine a more thorough capitulation. https://t.co/dQgMW5hgLf
A waiver of sanctions on oil sales will take effect immediately after the signing, the Journal added, also covering services such as banking, transportation and insurance.
Some conservatives have expressed concern over the peace deal, with Senate Republicans reportedly requesting the text of the agreement and briefings from the Trump administration.
“Let’s look at it and see what it actually is,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune was quoted as saying in the Journal.
Despite the deal announcement, the Israeli military said it conducted a strike in south Lebanon after it “identified a suspicious vehicle” near where its soldiers were operating, and its forces intercepted rockets and carried out an air strike against a launcher.
Iran’s central military command warned Israel should “await a harsh response” to the strikes, which Lebanon’s state news agency said targeted two vehicles in the town of Mayfadoun and another in nearby Shukeen, killing four.
I had a very productive meeting with @SecWar Pete Hegseth and his very talented team. I told Pete that I’ve never been more proud of the men and women of the U.S. military -- and the civilians who support them -- than I am right now.
Secretary Hegseth has done an outstanding… pic.twitter.com/XrMVZKNaMn
According to a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, the framework agreement has already been signed electronically by US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
“Likely on Friday... a new round of negotiations between Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement will begin,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
“In the final agreement, decisions will be made on the nuclear issues and the lifting of sanctions.”
Optimism over the reopening of Hormuz has sent the price of the international benchmark Brent North Sea crude down to $78.74 a barrel in Wednesday trading.
The main US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, was $75.85 a barrel.
A ship waits to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following the two-week temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran.
Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Weeks of indirect negotiations mediated by Pakistan and Qatar have built momentum for an interim deal, but a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Western sanctions remains elusive.
The US and Israel are pressing to strip Iran of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, said to have been buried by US strikes in 2025, while Iran has insisted on its right to enrichment.
The agreed framework has, however, paved the way for talks on those key disputes.
Asked at the G7 in France when the text would be released, Trump said: “It’s a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So probably pretty soon.”
Iran’s ultraconservative newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz praised the agreement as a “Trump surrender document”.
A commercial ship is viewed anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, in the Strait of Hormuz, Dubai.
Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images
But Araghchi struck a more cautious note.
“We have a history of broken commitments... we have a history of agreements being torn up. All of this is present in our minds,” he said.
In a flurry of interviews to talk up the deal, Vance said no US taxpayer money would go to Iran under the deal, as Iranian media reported $12 billion of frozen assets would be released.
Vance told NBC that nuclear inspectors would also be allowed to enter Iran.
Analysts have warned that the parallel conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah presents the biggest threat to the diplomatic thaw.
Lebanon was pulled into the war in March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, prompting Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.
That theatre of the conflict could be “the biggest ultimate spoiler” of the coming negotiations, said Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
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