00:00Speaking as he departed Switzerland, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said the first round
00:04of negotiations went well.
00:07All in all, a very productive 36 hours. We're going to have to keep working it. This is
00:12laying a foundation for what could be a truly transformed Middle East. But we haven't built
00:17a house yet. We're going to have to keep on building and that's what we'll do.
00:21Iranian officials also cited progress but did say Vance's assertion that they would
00:26allow nuclear inspectors back into the country was false. So let's get more with our Mideast
00:31correspondent Abiyah Abu Omar in Dubai. So Abiyah, what is the current state of the talks?
00:38Good morning, Paul. We're seeing a lot of discrepancies and you kind of alluded to that in your intro.
00:43For one, J.D. Vance, the Vice President of the United States, says that concessions about
00:49the nuclear issue in Iran were discussed. The Iranian side says not really and that the
00:55procedures will be taken in accordance with the IAEA when they come to place. The other
01:02thing J.D. Vance said was the unblocked frozen assets that he said Iran would be able to attain
01:09would be used to purchase agricultural products from the United States. Iran has not confirmed
01:15that. And so we're still seeing some discrepancies come through. At the heart of all of this remains
01:20the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has vehemently rejected the notion that Iran would toll the
01:26Strait of Hormuz. And we heard headlines from the parliament speaker, Qalibaf, early in the morning
01:31saying that the 60-day period will not include tolls, but then the Strait of Hormuz will see fees
01:38being implemented. He actually said that the Strait of Hormuz will never go back to the state that it used
01:44to be at pre-war. And so this is a big sign of concern. Now, the talks are still going
01:49on in
01:49Switzerland with J.D. Vance and Qalibaf going home. We're seeing lower level negotiators staying
01:56until the end of this week in Switzerland to continue these negotiations that will allow an
02:02open or a bigger conversation about Iran's nuclear program. And then the state of Hormuz,
02:08as President Trump had alluded to multiple times. But again, we're seeing the back and forth poll
02:14really continue from the MOU signing until this week. And again, at the heart of all of this remains
02:21the Strait of Hormuz and the shipments of oil through the waterway. Okay, so control of the
02:28Strait remaining a very contentious point in these discussions. But logistically, what's happening
02:33on the water in terms of movement of oil? So we're seeing movement. According to President
02:40Trump, oil is gushing through the waterway. But according to our own reporting from the Iranian
02:45side, and look, the Treasury Department had wavered those oil sanctions until August 21st,
02:51which is the period of which the 60-day negotiations would end, according to the MOU signing. And so we're
02:58seeing about 30 million barrels of Iranian oil having passed through the Strait of Hormuz over
03:04the past week or so. Now, just one thing to keep in mind is that these oil barrels are exports
03:10that
03:10were blockaded by the naval blockade of the U.S. over the past month or so. And then those are
03:16also
03:16export from Khark Island, which is the top export hub of Iran. And so once those run out, we're probably
03:22going to see the rate of this movement come down. But aside from Iranian exports going through Hormuz,
03:28we're seeing LNG tankers associated with Qatar making their way back to the Strait of Hormuz.
03:35We're also seeing tankers connected with Kuwait and the UAE and Saudi Arabia making their way
03:40through the Strait of Hormuz. Still a little bit of caution when it comes to tankers being comfortable
03:46passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Bloomberg News did report that about eight million barrels
03:52of oil had made their way through the Strait of Hormuz through Saturday and Sunday, so through
03:57the weekend. Now that compares to about 20 million barrels pre-war. So we're still awaiting to see if
04:04more of these barrels will make their way through the very key waterway. But it looks like the
04:10situation is definitely much better than the start of last week, let's say. And again, President Trump
04:17has made it very clear that this is his number one priority for the time being aside from the nuclear
04:22issue that Iran says has not yet been discussed.
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