The China Mail - Iranian tankers exit US blockade zone ahead of peace talks

The talks on a final settlement are set to begin Friday at Switzerland's Burgenstock mountain resort, as news that the Hormuz Strait will reopen sent world oil prices tumbling.

Optimism that the war triggered by the February 28 US-Israeli strikes on Tehran might be coming to an end was dented, however, by fresh Israeli strikes on south Lebanon.

The TankerTrackers website, which monitors oil shipments and storage, marked Iran's "first crude oil exports in two months", citing digital tracking data corroborated by satellite imagery.

"At least two National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) VLCC supertankers named DIONA (9569695) and HERO2 (9362073) have exited the US Navy blockade perimeter carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil between them," TankerTrackers said on X, later adding that a third tanker had exited.

Negotiations over a final deal are to start immediately after the Swiss signing ceremony and continue during a 60-day window, leading to decisions on the fate of Iran's nuclear programme and a plan for the lifting of international economic sanctions, officials said.

The United States will allow Iran to immediately begin selling oil and fuel under the deal to end the war, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the agreement.

A waiver of sanctions on oil sales will take effect immediately after the signing, the Journal added, also covering services such as banking, transportation and insurance.

Some conservatives have expressed concern over the peace deal, with Senate Republicans reportedly requesting the text of the agreement and briefings from the Trump administration.

"Let's look at it and see what it actually is," Senate Majority Leader John Thune was quoted as saying in the Journal.

- Oil prices tumble -

Despite the deal announcement, the Israeli military said it conducted a strike in south Lebanon after it "identified a suspicious vehicle" near where its soldiers were operating, and its forces intercepted rockets and carried out an air strike against a launcher.

Iran's central military command warned Israel should "await a harsh response" to the strikes, which Lebanon's state news agency said targeted two vehicles in the town of Mayfadoun and another in nearby Shukeen, killing four.

According to a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, the framework agreement has already been signed electronically by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Iran's deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

"Likely on Friday... a new round of negotiations between Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement will begin," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

"In the final agreement, decisions will be made on the nuclear issues and the lifting of sanctions."

Optimism over the reopening of Hormuz has sent the price of the international benchmark Brent North Sea crude down to $78.74 a barrel in Wednesday trading. The main US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, was $75.85 a barrel.

- Broken commitments -

Weeks of indirect negotiations mediated by Pakistan and Qatar have built momentum for an interim deal, but a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear ambitions and Western sanctions remains elusive.

The US and Israel are pressing to strip Iran of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, said to have been buried by US strikes last year, while Iran has insisted on its right to enrichment.

The agreed framework has, however, paved the way for talks on those key disputes.

Asked at the G7 in France when the text would be released, Trump said: "It's a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So probably pretty soon."

Iran's ultraconservative newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz praised the agreement as a "Trump surrender document".

But Araghchi struck a more cautious note.

"We have a history of broken commitments... we have a history of agreements being torn up. All of this is present in our minds," he said.

In a flurry of interviews to talk up the deal, Vance said no US taxpayer money would go to Iran under the deal, as Iranian media reported $12 billion of frozen assets would be released.

Vance told NBC that nuclear inspectors would also be allowed to enter Iran.

Analysts have warned that the parallel conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah presents the biggest threat to the diplomatic thaw.

Lebanon was pulled into the war in March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel after the killing of Iran's supreme leader, prompting Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.

That theatre of the conflict could be "the biggest ultimate spoiler" of the coming negotiations, said Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

burs/hol/fox

P.Deng--ThChM