Mark Weiss

I would probably say there's more optimism now than at any time in the past over the ongoing negotiations.

But still, it must be stressed, still no deal and still no confirmation from the sides that final agreement has been agreed to on a text even.

What's at stake here is a memorandum of understanding.

to be signed between the sides, if you like, a framework agreement during which a 60-day ceasefire will be observed.

The Strait of Hormuz will be opened pretty quickly, as will the US lifting its sanctions on Iranian ports.

During this 60-day ceasefire, negotiations will take place on the more contentious issues

such as Iran's nuclear-enriched substances, what will happen to them, Iran's capacity to enrich uranium in the future, what will happen with Lebanon, what will happen with Iranian proxies, etc., etc.

So there's a lot of subjects that will be discussed, and we can expect very intense discussions

negotiations during this 60-day period.

There are differences between the two sides on almost every single issue to tell you the truth.

um the question of sanctions release is one of them it's absolutely critical for the iranian regime their economy is in a catastrophic situation it was bad enough before the war now it's even worse significantly worse the west focuses on the economic impact of the closure of the strait of hormuz on western economies the price of oil increasing inflation etc but it's also disastrous for the iranian regime

They need those funds unfrozen and released as quickly as possible to help the Iranian economy, to help the regime.

The Trump administration says there will be sanctions release, but not on the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, only when Iran has implemented concrete measures on the questions such as

removing the nuclear enriched substances.

So very important differences on that issue, as indeed with every other issue.

They will certainly try not to during the negotiations.

The Iranians are known to be expert at drawn out negotiations.

Remember the very significant nuclear agreement that was reached with the Trump administration took two years of negotiations before a deal was reached.

Iran also realizes that the Trump administration will not be there forever.

They may well be seeking to