Preliminary pact may trade uranium curbs for sanctions relief and stability
Speculative news coming out of Washington that the US and Iran are closing in on a preliminary deal might be a positive development if the warring parties are serious about putting a full stop to the war.
The deal is said to be in the process of being reduced to a single page of proposals by which peace may first be ushered in if Iran agrees to stop enrichment of its uranium in return for the US lifting sanctions and releasing frozen Iran funds. The deal also hinges on something being done to open the Strait of Hormuz which is presently restricted by Iranian actions and the US economic blockade of Iranian ports.
So complicated are the issues that the agreement may not come up in a trice, but the signs are that both parties in the war may be more serious now about ceasing hostilities for negotiations to be renewed though US President Donald Trump has still not given up on his bombastic threats that have often impeded talks on a peace deal.
The proposed plan is probably the silver bullet that Mr Trump needs to get out of the colossal blunder he committed, in cohort with Israel, by bombing Iran on February 28, the justifications for which are still extremely vague since he was boasting that Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme had been bombed into the ground in a 12-day engagement in June 2025.
Iran is reportedly yet to respond to the proposal. Common sense might suggest that, despite being in a far better position to negotiate after demonstrating what it can do to the global economy by constricting the flow of oil through Hormuz, Iran must still find a path to peace so as not to leave any more excuses for Mr Trump to renew the bombing and start aiming at its power plants and its oil refining facilities.
Iran may have breached the ceasefire, as many as 10 times recently including in a strike on oil facility in the Emirate of Fujairah, but they are being viewed as not serious enough to invite reprisal. Truth to tell, Mr Trump needs a peace deal to stop Americans bleeding from high fuel prices; he must also try to revive his sagging approval ratings ahead of midterm polls. The rest of the world must pray that good sense will prevail.
