Iran And U.S. Trade Accounts Over Islamabad Understanding For Strait Of Hormuz And $12 Billion Assets

Iran and the United States are trading competing accounts over an “Islamabad Understanding” framework that Iranian media say would govern Strait of Hormuz transit rules and the release of Iran’s frozen assets.

Al Arabiya Net and Agencies reported that “four knowledgeable sources told Reuters” the two sides reached an understanding to extend the ceasefire by 60 days, while President Donald Trump had not yet signed off on it.

Al Jazeera

Channel Two of the national media network published an unofficial Islamabad memorandum text, saying the Islamic Republic of Iran would have “exclusive authority to determine the nature of vessels transiting” and that the United States pledged to provide Iran with “full access to $12 billion of its assets within 60 days.”

Hamshahri Online, citing Tasnim News Agency, said progress was made toward freeing $12 billion of Iran’s blocked assets after a trip of Mr. Ghalibaf and Araghchi and the accompanying delegation to Qatar, but that “some details of this matter are not yet finalized.”

The White House rejected the idea that a finalized document had been published, with spokeswoman Olivia Wiles saying the report broadcast by Iran’s state television was “completely fabricated.”

In the same White House statement, Wiles said negotiations with Iran “are going well,” and that “President Donald Trump has laid down clear red lines in this regard.”

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

Tasnim News Agency, via a source close to the Iranian negotiating team, denied that the drafting of the Memorandum of Understanding had been completed and said Iran “has not yet informed the Pakistani intermediary of the completion of the text.”

DW reported that a source close to the Islamic Republic’s negotiating team told Tasnim that claims by some Western sources that the memorandum had been finalized to extend the 60-day ceasefire were “this is not true and the text has not yet been finalized.”

The draft framework described by IRIB includes security provisions for the Strait of Hormuz, including that the Islamic Republic would be the sole authority responsible for determining the status of vessels transiting the passage.

Al Jazeera reporter’s account in انتخاب described clauses saying coordinating on managing the ships’ routes would be done with Iran and Oman, and that Iran would commit within one month to restore the number of commercial vessels passing through (excluding military ships) to pre-crisis levels while the United States would lift the naval blockade and withdraw its forces from around Iran.

The draft also ties the maritime arrangements to financial terms, with Al-Manar TV Lebanon saying the U.S. committed to granting Iran access to $12 billion of its blocked assets within 60 days.

DW also reported that the ceasefire extension would be followed by a 60-day period for negotiations on the nuclear issue, and that Axios said the understanding would specify how to handle Iran’s highly enriched uranium stocks, while Tasnim’s source stressed that the text was not finalized and Iran had not informed the Pakistani mediator of finalization.