Tehran says Israel withdrawal from Lebanon key

US Vice President JD Vance said the interim deal aimed at ending the war is a “very general document.”

He admitted the deal kicks the thorniest issues, especially Iran’s nuclear program, down the road.

“The MoU is about a page and a half, so it is a very general document,” Vance told CNN. 

The unpublished agreement calls for the “immediate” reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the blockade, a senior US official said, separately, Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the outline.

Vance later told Fox News that US President Donald Trump may decide to release the agreement before Friday.

Vance will travel to Geneva, where he and Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will sign the deal ending the war.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, quoted on state television, said “the next round of negotiations will begin immediately after the signing of the agreement.”

He added that it includes issues around Iran’s nuclear program. Vance said that after the MoU is signed, Iran will allow international nuclear inspectors back into the country.

Iran says any peace deal with the United States must end the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.

“The end of the war in Lebanon is an inseparable part of complete end of the war,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, according to Iranian state television.

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Araghchi said, adding that further Israeli attacks on Lebanon “will be considered by us a violation of the Memorandum of Understanding” with the US.

Tehran and Washington have announced a tentative agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

However, details of the interim deal remain unclear, as it has not been released publicly.

Araghchi’s remarks come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces will remain in areas they now control in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza “as long as necessary.”

The interim agreement between Washington and Tehran got a warm reception on Monday. But by Tuesday, it was already clear that the hard work is only just beginning.

Both sides have acknowledged as much. US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi have both said publicly that more talks are needed before anything resembling a full peace deal can take shape.

Those talks are set to begin Friday, when the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Geneva will open a 60-day window for the two sides to work toward a broader agreement.

Plenty of thorny issues remain on the table, among them, the future of Iran’s nuclear program and the ongoing Israeli military operations in Iran targeting Hezbollah.

We’ll be tracking all of that here.