The United States and Iran have reached an interim agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program, opening a two-month window for negotiations, although key issues such as verification mechanisms, enrichment limits, and long-term compliance remain unresolved and are now ripe for further negotiations.The peace agreement signed by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday aims to open a two-month window of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program. Under initial terms, Iran will immediately take steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global oil shipments and will be allowed to sell oil without restrictions, senior US officials said on Wednesday.Trump referred to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon as a main goal of the campaign that was launched with Israel in February.
However, analysts cited by the Associated Press noted that the interim framework leaves limited time to resolve the underlying dispute, unlike the previous multilateral agreement that took several months to negotiate.The framework stipulates that Iran will not “purchase or develop nuclear weapons” and that the two sides will seek to resolve the “disposal” of Iranian highly enriched uranium within this time frame, including dilution under the supervision of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency.
Trump has directly linked the initiative to preventing nuclear escalation. “If it’s not permanent, we’ll bomb them,” he said, referring to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and insisted that surveillance measures were already in place, saying: “We have cameras on every inch of it.”He also warned that any attempt to transport enriched material would lead to military action, saying: “If Iran tries to transport it, the United States will attack and ‘they will leave.’
And they know it.However, the timeline has raised doubts in Washington and beyond. According to the Associated Press, Senator Lindsey Graham said: “My suspicion is Iran itself. What would a good deal look like? No enrichment. We’ll see if we can get there. But whether we can get to phase two or not, I don’t know.”Experts also questioned whether the political and technical bandwidth is there to reach a full agreement within 60 days.
David Schenker, director of the Arab Policy Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the news agency, “This administration has proven that it finds it difficult to maintain its attention on these issues.”“This is the kind of thing that requires intense attention and attention to detail and a lot of technical experts involved,” Schenker added. “Trump loses his attention, moves on, and so does the administration.”
It is as if they do not understand Iran’s strategy. “They didn’t get it the first or second time.”The 2015 nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), took more than 18 months to negotiate and involved extensive technical coordination across multiple capitals, including Vienna.That agreement collapsed after Trump withdrew from the United States in 2018, with subsequent negotiations failing to restore a similar framework.
The previous agreement included imposing restrictions on uranium enrichment, centrifuges, and heavy water production in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.Republican lawmakers noted that any final agreement would require congressional approval. “I certainly expect that” the Senate will have the final say, the Associated Press quoted Senator Ted Cruz as saying.However, Senator Roger Marshall noted that the compressed timetable could serve a strategic purpose, saying: “Iran’s modus operandi is to negotiate for the purpose of delay, so they can rearm.
I think the president should give them a limited amount of time, otherwise there will be consequences. So I think it can be done.”The interim draft excludes other long-standing concerns, including Iran’s ballistic missile program, its regional proxy network and domestic political issues, which have been of central importance to US, Israeli and European concerns.Analysts say the framework represents a limited step and not a comprehensive settlement. “A deal is better than more fighting, but the war America and Israel have launched against Iran has not achieved its stated goals,” a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute told the Associated Press. “This agreement is mostly about cleaning up unnecessary mess and putting its best face forward.”