US-Iran: agreement opens negotiations but leaves key issues unresolved

Vatican City - On Sunday came the announcement of an agreement to bring the war between the United States and Iran to an end, but only a few hours later far more remains unknown than is truly clear about what has been established. The signing ceremony is scheduled for Friday 19 June in Switzerland, where a G7 meeting is also due to take place in the following days. Yet the contours of the agreement remain elusive, to the point that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi himself has admitted that the text is not yet final and that further sections may still be added.
What is known is above all the framework. The agreement takes the form of a fourteen-point memorandum of understanding, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar and negotiated on Washington’s behalf by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and for Tehran by Araghchi himself. The document confirms the ceasefire already in force since April and opens a sixty-day window for negotiations on the final agreement. In substance, it is an agreement …