Barak Ravid- President Trump himself signed, one official said.
Why it matters: The signing was supposed to happen in Switzerland on Friday, but a diplomat from a mediating country and a second source familiar told Axios earlier on Wednesday that there had been discussions about signing and implementing it earlier.
- The diplomatic source said the discussions around accelerating the timetable were intended to open the strait sooner than Friday, as both parties were in agreement on that issue.
- Another factor may have been the political pressure on the White House to release the text of the MOU. The source familiar with the discussions claimed it was Iran that demanded the text not be published until the formal signing, and denied the White House was responding to political pressure.
- A senior administration official read the agreement to reporters in a briefing call on Wednesday, after days of confusion about what was in it.
The latest: Iran's foreign ministry said the sides had agreed that the MOU should be signed electronically by both presidents.
What's next: The meeting between the U.S. and Iranian delegations headed by Vice President Vance and Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf is still expected to take place as planned on Friday in Switzerland, the sources said.
- They are expected to discuss the launching of negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.
The intrigue: A senior administration official told reporters that the deal was signed electronically on Sunday by Trump, Vance and Ghalibaf.
- The diplomatic source claimed no such signing had taken place. The source familiar claimed it did happen and this was a "second signing." It's unclear why two signings were necessary.
- Trump signed the document on Wednesday while at a dinner in France alongside President Emmanuel Macron.
Go deeper: What Iran gets out of the deal
No comments:
Post a Comment