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Iran and the U.S. have intensified efforts to reach a preliminary agreement despite continuing military strikes, with negotiations focused on releasing billions of dollars in frozen Iranian oil revenues, Reuters reported Thursday.
Three Iranian sources and a European official told Reuters that Tehran and Washington were continuing to exchange messages over the details of a proposed memorandum of understanding.
The Iranian sources said the two sides had reached a political understanding, but several issues still required detailed negotiations.
A central dispute concerns the mechanism for releasing tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues held in foreign banks.
Iran is seeking the release of between $6 billion and $12 billion in frozen funds directly to Tehran, one Iranian source said.
Washington, however, wants the money released gradually and limited to purchases of humanitarian goods, while rejecting the direct transfer of the funds to Iran.
“Iran wants $6 billion to $12 billion of its frozen funds to be released to Tehran, while Washington wants to release funds in stages for humanitarian goods and rejects returning funds to Iran outright,” the source said.
The disagreement over how the money would be released remains one of the key unresolved elements of the proposed arrangement.
The two countries have continued exchanging messages while strikes by both sides have persisted.
The discussions are centered on a memorandum of understanding rather than a comprehensive settlement, according to the sources.
The Iranian sources said Tehran’s immediate priority was to secure a framework capable of ending the war and providing economic relief through access to frozen assets.
They said Iran’s leadership was not currently focused on reaching a broad, final agreement.
Instead, it was seeking what the sources described as minimum breathing space by unlocking some of the country’s frozen revenues and bringing the military confrontation to an end.
The Iranian sources said a political understanding had already been established between Tehran and Washington.
However, the practical details of the agreement, including the amount, timing and conditions attached to the release of Iranian funds, remained under discussion.
The proposed interim arrangement would provide an initial framework while the two sides continued negotiations over unresolved issues.
Neither side had finalized the mechanism for handling the frozen revenues, according to the report.
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