‘Informal’ US-Iran Deal Could Slow Nuke Program, Free Prisoners, Release Billions

Iran would limit its enrichment of uranium, stop its proxy attacks on U.S. forces and contractors in Iraq, and refuse to sell ballistic missiles to Russia under an informal deal being negotiated by the Biden administration, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials from three countries.  

Two Israeli officials told Times reporters an agreement is “imminent.”

Iranian officials referred to the unwritten pact as a “political cease-fire.”

A deal, however informal, would be the first diplomatic breakthrough since 2018, when Iran resumed its enrichment program after former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of a multinational nuclear deal.

Last month, a UN report found that Iran held 10,460 pounds of enriched uranium, up from 8,289 pounds in February and 15 times the amount it had when the U.S. abandoned the agreement.

Talks by the Biden administration to restart the scuttled nuclear deal ended near failure last year. 

Under the new, less formal arrangement, Iran would limit its uranium enrichment to 60 percent, short of the 90 percent required to make a nuclear weapon, the Times reported Wednesday. 

In exchange, the U.S. would agree to hold off new economic sanctions; to stop seizing foreign tankers carrying Iranian oil; and to avoid pushing anti-Iran resolutions at the U.N. and at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The agreement apparently would not address Iran’s continuing supply of Shahed kamikaze drones to Russia or other points of conflict. 

“None of this is aimed at reaching a groundbreaking agreement,” Ali Vaez, Iran director at the nonprofit International Crisis Group, told the Times. A deal would “put a lid on any activity that basically crosses a red line or puts either party in a position to retaliate in a way that destabilizes the status quo.”

U.S. and Iranian officials discussed an informal agreement in New York in December, the Wall Street Journal reported, and White House officials made three visits to Oman – a frequent intermediary for Iran-related diplomacy – for additional indirect contacts, with Omani officials passing messages between the two sides.

The Wall Street Journal reported separately that negotiators are also seeking the release of Western prisoners in Iran.

The Times said Iran has linked the potential release of three American prisoners with gaining access to $7 billion in Iranian funds held in South Korea, and it has demanded access to additional billions of dollars held in Iraq for deliveries of Iranian gas and oil.

If the deal goes through, Iran has agreed to use the freed funds for humanitarian purposes only, the Times reported.