Vice President JD Vance is back in the U.S. after leading a first round of high-level talks with Iran.
Vice President JD Vance is back in the U.S. after leading a first round of high-level talks with Iran.
Vice President JD Vance is back in the U.S. after leading a first round of high-level talks with Iran.
Vice President JD Vance is back in the U.S. after leading the first round of high-level talks with Iran.
After agreeing to an initial deal last week, the U.S. and Iran hope to reach a permanent end to the war in less than 60 days. A final agreement would eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons program, which President Donald Trump cites as the main reason the U.S. went to war with Iran.
According to the vice president, the discussions on Sunday and Monday established a “good foundation” for a successful and final agreement. He highlighted four accomplishments:
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Tuesday that no visits have been scheduled by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. watchdog for the nuclear industry. Iran has allowed IAEA inspectors into the country in the past year, but not to inspect sites tied to Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program, which the U.S. bombed last year.
The U.S. Treasury Department temporarily waived sanctions on Iranian oil, allowing Iran to sell oil to more countries at the market rate. The U.S. is also considering unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets to purchase American crops, contingent on Iran’s behavior, according to Trump.
“They’re supposed to use money to buy food for their people because right now their people are very hungry and they’re buying it exclusively from us,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Monday. “Corn, soybeans. It should be a lot of money. I hope it’s a lot of money.”
“It’s going to benefit American farmers and obviously benefit the people of Iran. We want both, but fundamentally, that money is not going to be unfrozen unless we continue to see progress,” Vance told reporters Monday.
But Iran’s Foreign Ministry countered that on Tuesday, saying Tehran’s decisions about what food to import would be based on “prices and quality.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, apparently directed at the U.S., Baqaei said, “If power is not proven in war, it will not be proven through exaggeration after agreement either.”
While technical talks continue in Switzerland, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on a three-day tour of the Middle East in Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates to promote the deal. The three countries sustained damage and have taken on heavy fire since the war started.
Experts predict it could take months for trade to return to normal. According to an analysis by S&P Global, consumer prices are expected to rise this year due to shortages of oil and fertilizer, which are driving up costs for various products.
The data and analytics firm Kpler reported that 35 ships sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, compared to pre-war levels of up to 130 ships per day.
In light of the deal, oil and gas prices are beginning to decline. Oil from the Middle East was trading at about $75 per barrel as of Tuesday morning, close to pre-war levels. Oil prices had been declining for weeks, and accelerated after Trump announced that a deal with Iran had been reached.
Gas prices, which tend to lag behind oil prices, are also decreasing. AAA reports the average cost of a gallon of regular gas nationwide is $3.93, down 60 cents from a month ago but still about a dollar higher than before the war.
Experts say a lack of oil supply from Middle Eastern refineries damaged during the war and depleted reserves in the U.S. are likely to slow reductions in gas prices.
Watch the latest coverage on the U.S.-Iran peace talks:
Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.
Leave a Reply