Vance Hails ‘Good Day’ of Iran Talks as US Waives Oil Sanctions

This content was published on

June 22, 2026 - 16:24

7 minutes

(Bloomberg) — US Vice President JD Vance said talks with Iran over the weekend were “very, very good,” as the sides attempt to reach a peace deal within two months and formally end a war that’s reverberated through the global economy.His comments echoed those from Iranian officials after all-night discussions in Switzerland, with Vance leading the US team and Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, doing the same for the Islamic Republic.Vance, speaking to reporters, dismissed criticism of last week’s interim agreement between the US and Iran and said it would bring relief to Americans in the form of lower energy prices. He added that Tehran would buy American soy, wheat and corn with frozen funds it may be allowed to use as part of the deal.“If Iranian assets are ever unfrozen, they’re going to go to make American farmers richer and to feed the Iranian people,” Vance said, explaining that the US and Qatar would have approval over the process.It’s unclear if Iran agrees and the memorandum of understanding it signed with the US last week states that the Iranian central bank will be able to designate the beneficiaries of unfrozen funds.Vance spoke just before the US Treasury waived sanctions for some Iranian oil and petroleum products, a condition of the MOU. Iran has ramped up oil exports in recent days thanks to the US lifting a naval blockade that was squeezing the Islamic Republic’s economy.Plenty of obstacles remain in the talks, which will continue throughout this week at the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock. They include Israel’s war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group. At one stage on Sunday, Iran said it would suspend talks — but never actually did — after US President Donald Trump threatened military action against the Islamic Republic over its funding of proxy groups in the Middle East.On Monday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the mediators, Qatar and Pakistan, had managed to ease some of the tensions over Lebanon. He added Iran was beginning to see financial benefits from last week’s agreement.“Tireless Pakistani and Qatari mediation has delivered major progress to end Lebanon War,” Araghchi said on X. “Oil and petrochem exports are waived, blockade lifted, some frozen assets released, and major reconstruction & development plan launched for Iran.”Pakistan and Qatar, in a joint statement, spoke of “encouraging progress.” They said Iran and the US had agreed to establish a “high level committee” to oversee the talks, as well as working groups dealing with nuclear issues and sanctions on Tehran. There will also be a “de-confliction cell” to help ensure the cessation of military operations in Lebanon.Iran and the US have set up a communication line to “avoid incidents and miscommunication” related to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping volumes have picked up in recent days, even if they’re still far off pre-war levels.“The absence of trust is truly a hugely complicating factor,” Hasan Alhasan, senior fellow for Middle East policy at the Bahrain-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said on Bloomberg Television. “It complicates the details, especially around sequencing. Each side wants to make sure the other is keeping to their end of the commitment before they make any concessions.”Oil fell further in early trading on Monday, with Brent crude down 3.5% to below $78 a barrel. It dropped almost 8% last week, though is still up around 30% for the year. Traders say that’s largely because it will take months, if not longer, for flows of oil and liquefied natural gas through the Hormuz strait to return to normal.In Qatar, 13 people were killed and 66 injured in a blast at the Gulf state’s main domestic gas plant on Sunday, underscoring the risks to Middle Eastern energy facilities as they ramp up production in the wake of the US-Iran interim pact. Petroleum producers including Saudi Arabia to Qatar and Kuwait had to lower output when the Hormuz strait was closed.Talks ContinueVance arrived in Switzerland on Sunday and was joined by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, a special envoy. Lower-level delegates are set to remain in Switzerland to discuss technical matters, with Vance and Ghalibaf leaving the country.Trump again threatened Iran with military action, telling Fox News on Sunday the US could start collecting tolls for Hormuz traffic if there’s no deal. He said he told Iranian leaders if they close the strait again, they “won’t even make it back” to Iran, using an expletive.Since the US and Iran began a shaky ceasefire in early April, the US leader has vacillated between saying a more permanent deal was imminent and threatening more airstrikes on Iran.He’s come under significant pressure to end a war he began with Israel in late February. The resulting surge in energy prices has accelerated inflation globally and dented his Republican Party’s popularity ahead of midterm elections in November.Still, Israel and Iran hawks in the US have criticized the MOU, saying it gives far too much financial relief to a country they see as an archenemy, without curbing its ballistic missile program or support for Middle Eastern militant groups such as Hezbollah in exchange.Beyond economic benefits from Americans, Trump and Vance have said the deal will stop Iran ever getting a nuclear weapon.Critics of the war and of the memorandum have said the US is unlikely to achieve a better outcome than the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. That accord, which took 20 months to finalize, was lambasted by Trump, who pulled the US out of it in 2018, during his first term.A resolution to the fighting in Lebanon will be decisive for the success of the US-Iran talks. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Lebanon was the “first real test.”Israel is not party to the Swiss talks and has balked at the idea of its forces leaving southern Lebanon until Hezbollah — designated a terrorist organization by the US — no longer threatens its northern communities with missiles and drones.The war in Lebanon, which restarted when Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of Iran in early March, has killed thousands of people there and displaced more than a million.Israel wants Lebanon’s army to be able to take over areas it’s holding and prevent Hezbollah from returning.The Israel Defense Forces have full freedom of action to thwart any threat to them or to the residents of northern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.“The IDF has no restrictions in this regard,” he said.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.