Initial US-Iran agreement leaves many key issues to be negotiated

Initial US-Iran agreement leaves many key issues to be negotiated Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleDaniel BushWashington correspondentGetty ImagesThe US-Iran memorandum of understanding announced on Wednesday amounts to a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a deal to try to reach a final deal on almost everything else.President Donald Trump framed it as a major win for the US in a lengthy press conference at the G7 summit in France. But new details released by US officials in a call with reporters confirm both countries still have a long way to go to reach a comprehensive final peace agreement that achieves Trump's primary goal of stopping Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons.Trump has insisted the deal ensures that Iran will never buy, develop or produce a nuclear weapon. But the text of this agreement, which was read aloud by officials on the call, falls short of that. Instead, the ceasefire extension jumpstarts a high-stakes scramble over 60 days for the two adversaries to achieve a lasting nuclear pact. It took the Obama administration 20 months of negotiations to reach the original Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Can the Trump administration do that in just two months?For now, the text of the deal only commits Iran to "downblending" its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). A senior US official on Wednesday called it a "significant concession" by Iran.What's in the US-Iran agreement? US officials reveal details of Iran agreement as Trump says deal could be signed tomorrowBut all of the technical details of how that might happen, and on what timeline, must still be ironed out in the 60-day period of negotiations that commence after the scheduled signing takes place on Friday.Trump has also said the US will not provide any money to Iran. This is a key issue for the president, who has been critical of the Obama administration's $1.7 billion payme...