U.S.-Iran talks focus on sanctions relief, nuclear limits, reconstruction fund

U.S. and Iranian negotiators have been working inside a 60-day window that links nuclear restraints to sanctions relief, access to frozen assets and a reconstruction fund that could reach $300 billion. The scope goes well beyond uranium limits, with reporting also tying the broader understanding to commercial shipping and the Strait of Hormuz.

The memorandum under discussion centered on Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, future enrichment limits and Tehran’s stated civilian nuclear needs. Reports said the package could include waivers for Iranian oil sales and a phased lifting of restrictions, giving Washington a way to trade economic relief for verifiable limits on Iran’s program. Some accounts also said access to frozen Iranian assets would be part of the bargain.

The reconstruction or redevelopment fund emerged as one of the most sensitive pieces of the talks. Coverage put the figure at $300 billion, with one report saying more than half of that amount had already been committed. Another account described the fund as private and designed to pull investment into Iran, underscoring how the economic side of the deal could become as contentious as the nuclear terms themselves.

The reported agenda was narrower than many previous Iran negotiations. In at least one draft account, Iran’s missile program and support for allied armed groups were excluded, leaving the talks focused on enriched uranium, enrichment limits, sanctions relief and economic reconstruction. That separation matters because it leaves some of the region’s most volatile security issues outside the immediate deal, even as the broader package reaches into trade routes and oil markets.

U.S. officials have portrayed the arrangement as performance-based, with sanctions relief tied to Iranian compliance. That structure would give Washington leverage over implementation, but it also raises the stakes for Tehran, which would be expected to show progress before the deepest economic benefits arrived.

The talks came after more than three months of stop-start negotiations and bouts of fighting that jolted global energy and commodities markets. By connecting nuclear limits, oil sanctions, frozen assets and a possible reconstruction fund, the sides have made clear that any agreement will rise or fall on the full package, not on uranium alone.