DUBAI – Efforts to reach a preliminary deal between Iran and the United States have intensified despite the two sides trading a new round of strikes on June 11, according to three Iranian sources and a European official.
The sources said Iran and the US were still exchanging messages over details of a mechanism that could unfreeze sanctioned Iranian funds.
The Iranian sources said a political understanding had been reached, but some issues had yet to be discussed in detail. These included a mechanism for the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.
“Iran wants US$6 billion (S$7.8 billion) to US$12 billion of its frozen funds to be released to Tehran, while Washington wants to release funds in stages for humanitarian goods and rejects returning funds to Iran outright,” said one of the Iranian sources.
They said the clerical establishment’s priority was not a comprehensive settlement but a framework that could restore minimum breathing space for Iran by unlocking its frozen assets and ending the war. REUTERS
