An emerging peace agreement between Donald Trump and Iran will allow Tehran to begin selling oil and fuel immediately, US officials said, in what appeared to be a major concession from Washington to end the conflict.
An official told Reuters that Tehran would be permitted to sell its oil after the memorandum of understanding is signed this week, in return for Iran allowing free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and not attempting to acquire a nuclear weapon.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran would receive sustained relief from sanctions if it abided by key US demands. Officials told the newspaper that they believed “sweeteners” were required for Iran to accept a deal.
President Trump had earlier warned that “all hell will rain down” on Iran if it attempts to acquire a nuclear weapon, as both sides prepared to engage in a fresh round of negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The agreement between Washington and Tehran says “loud and clear” that the latter will not produce or purchase a nuclear weapon, Mr Trump told reporters at the G7 summit in France on Tuesday.
“If they do, they suffer unbelievable consequences,” he added. “I won’t even tell you the consequences, but the consequences are the ultimate consequences… if they do, all hell will rain down on them.” Tehran has consistently denied it is seeking a nuclear weapon.
The US president was speaking after a memorandum of understanding paving the way for an end to the conflict was finally agreed on Sunday night after months of diplomacy. Details of the agreement are scarce, but Mr Trump has said they will soon be made public.
The agreement will extend the fragile ceasefire announced in April by another 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz while nuclear negotiations take place. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said talks would start in Switzerland on Friday after the formal signing of the framework deal.
Trump has reiterated several times that the text of the deal states clearly that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. However, Tehran maintains that it will not wind down its nuclear programme, which it insists is not for military purposes.
Both sides are under domestic pressure to end a conflict that has killed at least 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since February and upended the global economy.
Negotiators will also eventually have to address other difficult issues, like the future of the Israeli war in Lebanon, which Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted must not be part of the Iran peace deal.
During his press conference, Trump criticised Israel’s conduct in Lebanon amid mounting concerns that continued attacks could derail the peace process.
“Israel is fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed. And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody. Because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses. And they’re not all Hezbollah, I can tell you.”
On Tuesday, Israeli drone strikes targeted three vehicles in southern Lebanon, killing at least four people and wounding others, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
Two people were killed in a double-tap strike, with a drone hitting a car in the village of Mayfadoun, followed by a second strike after people had gathered at the scene. Another drone strike on the town of Shoukin killed two other people, the agency said.
Mr Trump said that although he has a “great relationship” with Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”.
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