US-Iran Peace Deal: What’s known about the possible agreement

With a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran potentially closer than ever, questions now turn to the particulars of the agreement and what those are. Little information about the fine print of the pact is available as of Saturday afternoon, but many of the potential details are known, including some that surround the top two issues: Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz. 

What we know:

President Donald Trump addressed both those concerns in Saturday’s social media post that indicated the deal was imminent. In it, the president stated Iran has given up the prospects of obtaining a nuclear weapon, whether by developing one, purchasing it, or through other means.

Additionally, Trump indicated that the Strait of Hormuz will open as soon as the agreement is ratified. The deal will be signed electronically on Sunday, according to Trump’s post and Pakistan, which has mediated many of the peace talks. Iran, however, has pushed back on that timeline, only saying that a signing could happen in the coming days.

What we don't know:

The end of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz would happen immediately, according to Trump’s timeline, but the president did not say if that meant the blockade of Iranian ports by the U.S. would also be lifted.

While Trump celebrated Tehran abandoning its nuclear ambitions, the exact details of how the remnants of the nuclear program, which helped spur the war in the first place, will be handled have not been revealed. 

What happens to Iran’s nuclear program

What they're saying:

The president wrote that nuclear dust, which he added was buried under mountains as the result of U.S. bombings, would be retrieved, downblended, and destroyed. The post indicated that would happen "[a]t the appropriate time, when all is calm."

The other side:

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi explained that the final terms for dismantling the nuclear program would be ironed out during a 60-day window that starts once the deal is done. Both sides could agree to extend that deadline, though, if necessary.

A U.S. official told reporters anonymously, per White House ground rules, that the approximately two-month-long timeframe allowed the two countries to sort out technical details of removing the uranium. The official did not say who would be tasked with retrieving it. 

A Strait of Hormuz toll?

Another one of the U.S.’s key aims of any peace deal, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, may happen quickly, but whether there will be conditions attached is yet to be seen. Iran was pushing for a system that would have transiting ships pay "for services rendered" when passing through the vital waterway. 

Tehran had imposed such a toll system during the war, but the U.S. and other nations described that commercial vessels having to pay to pass through the strait violated international law. 

Iran sanctions relief

The current agreement is expected to lift sanctions on Iran and release assets that have been frozen, three regional officials told the Associated Press anonymously. Both the extent of the sanctions relief, including which ones may be ended, as well as the total value of the assets that Iran could once again access are not known. 

What they're saying:

In Saturday’s post, Trump continued his criticism of former President Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran and the financial incentives for Tehran and said, "no money would exchange hands." He did not state the fate of sanctions or currently inaccessible Iranian funds that could be made available.  

Lebanon’s fate

Big picture view:

How this deal affects the hostilities between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon will remain to be seen. During negotiations, Tehran insisted that a peace deal would include an end to the fighting between Israeli forces and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in that country as well. The string of airstrikes and missile attacks that began last week started after Iran stated it would retaliate for Israeli attacks in Beirut’s southern suburbs. 

What they're saying:

On Friday, though, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that his country would act independently in its relationship with Iran. He added that Israel planned to continue occupying the zones it controls in Lebanon, as well as in Gaza and Syria. Additionally, it planned to stay in the northern refugee camps of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.