Vice President JD Vance said on CNN that the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding is a “very general document” that runs about a page and a half and contains tricky details about the future of Iran’s nuclear program and other issues left for future talks.
“On a number of issues, we need to sort these things out during the technical negotiation phase,” Vance told CNN’s Jake Tapper, pointing to the deal’s 60-day window for further discussions scheduled to begin Friday.
Senior U.S. officials told reporters earlier Monday that they plan to release the full text of the memorandum of understanding in the next 24 to 48 hours.
In the short term, the agreement aims to extend the ceasefire between the US and Iran, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and begin negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. But the two countries have made conflicting claims about easing sanctions. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the U.S. is expected to release billions in Iranian assets before talks begin, while the U.S. says Iran will get nothing until it abides by the agreement.
Vance told CNN that the claims about asset release as a condition for talks were “definitely not true” and argued that those claims may have been made by “hardliners” within Iran who tend to “overemphasize what Iran gets from the deal” to appeal to a domestic audience.
Vance said Iran could receive a “very significant sanctions relief package,” but only if it meets its obligations.
“There is a really big opportunity for the Iranians, but they will only take advantage of that opportunity if they do the things they promise,” he said.
It is also unclear what a potential U.S.-Iran nuclear deal might look like or whether the two sides will reach an agreement in 60 days. And Iran said last week that negotiations would focus only on nuclear issues, with Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah – two other major U.S. concerns – excluded from the talks.
Vance said preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon or restoring its nuclear program were the most important issues, but U.S. officials “certainly expect that as part of our broader agreement … Iran will stop funding terrorist organizations.” He pointed to a portion of the memorandum that said Iran must commit to “regional peace and stability.”
