The head of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, Mohammad Shariatmadari, said on Thursday that 89% of the production units shut down during the recent war are now fully back online, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency. His claim came as diplomacy around the U.S.-Iran file intensified, with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency saying his representatives will take part in talks in Switzerland between Washington and Tehran. Arab sources also said some of the U.S.-Iran meetings could include Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, an Israeli official told Reuters, “Israel does not intend to retreat from its positions and retreat from Lebanon, we are conducting stubborn negotiations with the United States on this.” Separately, Reuters reported that the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding was formally signed on Thursday without a joint ceremony. President Donald Trump signed the document in France alongside President Emmanuel Macron, and a scanned copy was sent to Tehran for President Masoud Pezeshkian’s signature.
The reported remote signing appeared to confirm remarks made by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance over the weekend, when he said the document had already been signed by him, Trump and the Iranian parliament speaker. That ended speculation about the planned Friday summit in Lucerne, Switzerland. Under the Iranian version, the meeting is not for another signing ceremony but for the formal start of technical negotiations expected to last 60 days.
Those talks are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program, reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium and lifting sanctions in pursuit of a permanent agreement. The White House has not yet clarified the matter, but the article says Washington appears to regard the political phase of the deal as already complete. Pakistan separately said it had secured the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the American blockade, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the so-called “Islamabad memorandum” would take effect immediately.