Iran and U.S. Reach Political Understanding on Preliminary Deal but Continue Strikes and Disagree on Release of Frozen Funds
Iranian and U.S. officials are discussing a mechanism to release tens of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian oil revenues. A political understanding has been reached, though details remain under discussion.
Al-MonitorEfforts to reach a preliminary deal between Iran and the United States have intensified, three Iranian sources and a European official told Reuters on Thursday. The two sides are exchanging messages over details of a memorandum of understanding even as strikes continue between them.
A political understanding has been reached, the Iranian sources said, but several issues still require detailed discussion.
One of those issues is a mechanism for releasing tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks. Iran wants $6 billion to $12 billion of its frozen funds released directly to Tehran. Washington wants the funds released in stages for humanitarian goods and rejects returning the money outright, according to one of the Iranian sources.
The clerical establishment's priority is a framework that can restore minimum breathing space by unlocking frozen assets and ending the war, the Iranian sources said. S. mural on a building in Tehran on June 11, 2026, the same day the messages were being exchanged.
