The United States and Iran have commenced high-level negotiations in Switzerland under a memorandum of understanding that halted three months of military confrontation, reopened the Strait of Hormuz, and set a 60-day framework for talks on Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions relief. President Donald Trump, addressing American farmers at the White House, asserted that Washington is negotiating “from a position of pure strength” and that Iran was “completely defeated,” a characterisation Tehran has not publicly endorsed. The MoU, signed digitally by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, includes a 14-point framework that stops all hostilities, lifts the US naval blockade, and records Iran’s affirmation that it will not develop nuclear weapons and will hand over its enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Viewed from Washington, the agreement is presented as a concession by Iran, with Trump administration officials highlighting the immediate reopening of the strait—through which a record 19 million barrels of oil transited on a single day—and Iran’s stated nuclear commitment. Yet internal divisions persist: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Pentagon chief have expressed scepticism about Iran’s willingness to compromise on its enrichment programme, while other advisers support the deal. The White House has also tied the unfreezing of Iranian assets to purchases of American agricultural commodities, with Vice President J. D. Vance insisting that released funds flow directly to US exporters rather than to Iranian authorities. Tehran rejects that condition. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stated that Iran does not wish to spend its own unfrozen assets on American products, and Iranian officials maintain that the Strait of Hormuz falls under their sovereignty, proposing joint management with Oman and the levying of transit fees.

The MoU’s undisclosed “gentlemen’s agreements” leave significant room for divergent interpretation. The negotiations, which begin at expert level on 30 June, aim for a comprehensive peace agreement that would surpass the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), from which Trump withdrew the US in 2018. To clear that bar, Washington would need Iran to accept permanent limits on uranium enrichment, drastically reduce its stockpile of material now enriched to 60 percent purity, and restore full IAEA monitoring access—steps Tehran has resisted since it began breaching the JCPOA in 2019. The temporary truce has already delivered tangible economic relief by securing the strait, but the core disputes over nuclear capabilities and the sovereignty of frozen assets remain unresolved.

In the US Congress, the administration faces political headwinds: a Senate resolution to halt the conflict passed with some Republican support, and Democrats are urging lawmakers to reject an additional $87.6 billion spending request tied to the deal. The 60-day negotiation clock is ticking, and the durability of the MoU will depend on whether the two sides can translate fragile understandings into binding commitments on enrichment, monitoring, and the disposition of roughly $12 billion in unfrozen Iranian funds.