The United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding overnight between Wednesday and Thursday that gives Tehran a series of major concessions, according to the report. The text says there are nine American concessions, and that the deal allows Iran to keep controlling the Strait of Hormuz and charging fees there. It also says there will be no limits on Iran’s ballistic missiles or its proxy network, while Iran is to receive large economic benefits, some immediately and some only if a final deal is reached.
The article says the memorandum leaves the missile and proxy issue outside the final negotiations. The omitted proxy network includes Hezbollah, the Houthis, and militias in Iraq. Senior U.S. officials told CNN the document is only a “political document” meant to help Iran sell the deal domestically. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy called it “the biggest policy mistake we made in decades.”
On Hormuz, the memorandum reportedly allows commercial ships to pass for 60 days “without payment,” while Iran and Oman, with regional states, are to decide the future of traffic in the strait. The report says Washington is effectively accepting Tehran’s demand for a new fee system, giving Iran a fresh political and economic lever. In Lebanon, the memo calls for an “immediate and permanent halt” to military activity on all fronts, including Lebanon, and says both sides will protect Lebanon’s territorial sovereignty, which the article presents as a hint toward an Israeli withdrawal. Hezbollah said an Israeli withdrawal is an Iranian condition for a final agreement, but not a prerequisite for the memorandum or talks.
The immediate economic concessions include lifting the maritime blockade announced by Donald Trump on April 13, and temporarily lifting sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and related services. For a final deal, the memo reportedly envisages lifting all U.S. sanctions, including secondary sanctions, creating a $300 billion Iran reconstruction fund to be financed by private investors, and unfreezing Iranian assets estimated at about $100 billion in countries including China, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and the United States. On the nuclear issue, Iran reiterates it will not seek nuclear weapons, but the sides only agree to settle the enriched uranium stockpile later, with the minimum step described as dilution inside Iran under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision. The document says nothing about Iranian nuclear sites or other parts of the program.
