New details from a so-called peace deal between the U.S. and Iran have leaked, but the document shows few specific agreements to end the nearly four-month-long conflict.
CNN has obtained the 14-point memorandum of understanding reached by negotiators for the two nations, and senior White House correspondent Kevin Liptak informed "CNN This Morning" viewers on Wednesday morning of the details he had reviewed moments earlier.
"This text has not been officially released by either side of this," Liptak said. "We've heard from American officials over the last couple of days that they were planning to release this officially, after it is formally signed here in Switzerland on Friday."
"We'vegotten a copy from a U.S.official," he continued. "We've gotten a versionof it from a diplomat who hasseen copies of it circulatinghere at the G7 summit, and twoadditional sources. So we havefour sources from which we haveobtained the text of thisdocument, and in some ways, itdoes reflect how Americanofficials have beencharacterizing it over the lastseveral days. It is vague in alot of its terms, particularlywhen it comes to Iran's nuclearprogram. It lays out in broadterms how the Strait of Hormuzwill be reopened, how the U.S.will lift its blockade on Iranian ports, and it does spellout what the financial reliefthat Iran can expect as part ofthis deal if it meets itscommitments."
The document specifies that Iran will be able to gain access to a $300 billion development fund, although American officials have insisted the funding would not come from the U.S., and the agreement states that the U.S. will issue waivers for some sanctions to allow Iran to start exporting oil.
"One of the reasons that thepresident has said that hestarted the war in the firstplace is to eliminate Iran'sability to obtain a nuclearweapon, and this is what thememorandum of understanding says on this point," Liptak said. "The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States haveagreed that the fate of enrichedmaterial and the fate of allother mutually agreed, agreednuclear-related issues,including Iran's nuclear needs,will be adequately addressed ina final agreement."
"The finalagreement will confirm theprovisions of this article, andso it is what we expected," Liptak added. "It'spunting the really thorny issuesabout enrichment around the fateof Iran's nuclear stockpile tothese future technicalnegotiations. The memo specifiesthat those will last 60 days,but that they could also beextended."
Trump has hyped the deal as a peace agreement, but Liptak said other U.S. officials have not sounded so confident.
"We have beentalking to American officialsabout the language in thisdocument, and in a lot of ways,they have been downplaying it," Liptak said. "They have suggested that this isessentially a political documentmeant to create the conditionsto get around to the table forthese much more technicalnegotiations going forward. ButI still think the lack ofspecificity around the nuclearissues, I think, will be asurprise to some people who havebeen following all this, and inparticular, the fact that itdoesn't say anywhere in thedocument that the United Stateswill be involved in thedestruction of Iran's highlyenriched uranium."
"One official told us yesterdayis that, quote, people shouldn't read too much intothe language of the MOU," he added. "That's what's more importantthan the actual document is theunderstandings that we have witheach other. Of course, all ofthat is, I think, going to risksome backlash from Iran hawks,even from some of thepresident's own allies, whowill argue that the U.S. isputting too much faith in the Iranians' word in all of this,and not necessarily in whatthey're willing to put inwriting in these documents. Butcertainly what you've heardfrom the president over the lastdays, including here at the G7,is really proclaiming this as atriumph."