The US Treasury Department issued a general license on Monday authorizing the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian crude oil, petrochemicals, and petroleum products through August 21, fulfilling a commitment under the framework agreement reached between Washington and Tehran last week.
Framework Agreement and IAEA Inspections
“In line with the ongoing productive talks in Switzerland, Iran has committed to free and open transit in the Strait of Hormuz and to permit International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into their country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X/Twitter. “As part of the framework, Treasury has issued a temporary 60-day general license authorizing the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian oil.”
US Vice President JD Vance announced on Monday that Iran agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back, following the first round of US-Iran peace talks in Switzerland. “The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country,” Vance told reporters at the Burgenstock resort, calling it “a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran.”
Vance described the talks as laying “a very good foundation for a successful final deal.” He added, “The final deal is the house… We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people.”
Iranian Denials and Nuclear Program
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei stated that aside from a “brief discussion,” the talks did not address Iran’s nuclear program in detail. “One of the points raised by the American delegation was the presentation of its positions regarding the nuclear issue,” Baghaei said. “A very brief discussion took place regarding the nuclear issue, but there was no discussion of details, and it cannot be said that negotiations on the nuclear issue have begun.”
Baghaei later told IRNA that Tehran did not negotiate on its nuclear program or accept new commitments. Iran’s interaction with the IAEA will continue according to current procedures, subject to parliamentary approval and the Supreme National Security Council’s decisions. The IAEA has previously accused Iran of obstructing inspections and failing to account for its highly enriched uranium stockpile, which was apparently buried in US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during last June’s 12-day Israel-Iran war.
Strait of Hormuz and Maritime Traffic
Despite Iran’s announcement of a renewed closure, maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz continued to flow faster than before the agreement, according to tracking firms. By 1100 GMT, the Kpler platform recorded 15 transits by commodity ships, comparable to Thursday and Saturday when traffic approached 30 transits per day. At least five other ships appeared to have passed through, based on AIS signals on MarineTraffic.
The strait reopened last week after the US-Iran agreement but was announced closed again by Tehran in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Both sides have since agreed on mechanisms to end the fighting in Lebanon and secure the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes. They established a communication line “to avoid incidents and miscommunication with the aim of safe passage for commercial vessels,” according to Qatari and Pakistani mediators. Kpler press officer Nikos Pothitakis noted that some ships resumed sailing with transponders turned off.
Unfreezing Iranian Assets and Agricultural Purchases
Vance indicated that the US seeks to restrict unfrozen Iranian assets to purchasing produce from American farmers for the benefit of the Iranian people, rather than terrorism. The scheme, worked out by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Qatari mediators, would see funds unfrozen only after approval from Doha and Washington. “If Iranian assets are ever unfrozen, they’re going to go to make American farmers richer and to feed the Iranian people,” Vance said, adding that public concerns were sparked by “misreporting.”
Regional Coordination and Lebanon
Vance said the US is in “constant contact” with Israel and regional partners. “This is not a deal that the United States is imposing on the region. This is a deal that the region has desperately asked the United States to put in place,” he claimed. The talks also secured a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and made “very good progress” on a deconfliction mechanism for the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.
“We wanted to make sure that we had the proper coordination set up so that if there is shooting, if Hezbollah fires at Israel or if Israel responds, if there are other conflicts that arise in the region, we’re actually talking to each other and figuring out how to stop the shooting,” Vance said. The goal is direct communication when incidents occur, claiming that “there really hasn’t been a mechanism to have those discussions until basically [yesterday,] when we set that up.”
Vance noted Iranian negotiators threatened to walk out after Trump threatened to “hit Iran very hard again” if it did not rein in its proxies in Lebanon. He defended Trump’s comments, saying, “What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call ‘trash talk,’ you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record.”
