- The final agreement between the United States and Iran will be signed on Friday.
- Despite the agreement, Israeli attacks continue in Lebanon.
- The Lebanon conflict remains a threat to diplomacy: analysts.
The first tankers carrying Iranian oil left a US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a tracking website said on Wednesday, two days before Washington and Tehran begin talks on a peace deal agreed upon with few details, including Iran's nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions.
Talks on a final deal will begin on Friday in the Swiss mountain resort of Burgenstock, as news that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen sent global oil prices tumbling.
However, optimism that the war sparked by the February 28 US-Israeli attacks on Tehran could be coming to an end was shaken by new Israeli attacks on southern 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 images.
“At least two National Iranian Tank Company (NITC) VLCC supertankers, named Diona and Hero2, have left the US Navy blockade perimeter carrying between them a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil,” TankerTrackers said on X, later adding that a third tanker had left.
Negotiations on a final deal will begin immediately after the Swiss signing ceremony and will continue over a 60-day period, leading to decisions on the fate of Iran's nuclear program 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, he said. Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing unidentified people familiar with the deal.
A waiver of sanctions on oil sales will take effect immediately after signing, the Journal added, and will also cover services such as banking, transportation and insurance.
Some conservatives have expressed concern about the peace deal, and Senate Republicans have reportedly requested the text of the deal and reports from the Trump administration.
“Let's look at it and see what it really is,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune was quoted as saying in the Journal.
Oil prices fall
Despite the deal announcement, the Israeli military said it carried out an attack in southern Lebanon after it “identified a suspicious vehicle” near where its soldiers were operating, and its forces intercepted rockets and carried out an airstrike against a launcher.
Iran's central military command warned Israel that it should “expect a tough response” to the attacks, 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, who spoke 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 chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
“Probably on Friday… a new round of negotiations will begin between Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
“Decisions on nuclear issues and the lifting of sanctions will be made in the final agreement.”
Optimism over the reopening of Hormuz has caused the price of international benchmark North Sea Brent crude to fall to $78.74 a barrel in trading on Wednesday. The main US oil contract, the West Texas Intermediate, was at $75.85 a barrel.
Broken commitments
Weeks of indirect negotiations brokered by Pakistan and Qatar have built momentum for an interim agreement, but a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear ambitions and Western sanctions remains elusive.
The United States and Israel are pushing to strip Iran of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is said to have been buried by US attacks last year, while Iran has insisted on its right to enrichment.
However, the agreed framework has 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. Probably very soon.”
Iran's ultraconservative newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz hailed the deal as a “Trump surrender document.”
But Araghchi struck a more cautious note.
“We have a history of broken commitments… we have a history of broken agreements. All of this is present in our minds,” he said.
In a series of interviews to discuss the deal, Vance said that no American taxpayer money would go to Iran under the deal, as Iranian media reported that $12 billion in frozen assets would be released.
Vance said NBC that nuclear inspectors would also be allowed into Iran.
Analysts have warned that the parallel conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah poses the greatest threat to the diplomatic thaw.
Lebanon was drawn into the war in March when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel after the assassination of Iran's supreme leader, prompting Israeli attacks and a ground invasion.
That conflict scenario could be “the biggest factor sabotaging” the upcoming negotiations, said Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
