US said telling Iran it can gain more money by adhering to MOU than it would by charging Hormuz tolls

US negotiators are reportedly seeking to convince their Iranian counterparts at the ongoing indirect technical talks in Doha to forgo plans to charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that Tehran will be able to make more money by following through with nuclear concessions than it would be able to generate from such fees.

The effort comes two weeks after the US and Iran signed an MOU that gave them 60 days to negotiate a final deal covering Iran’s nuclear program. But talks on that final deal haven’t really begun yet, given disagreements regarding the Strait of Hormuz.

“We have reached an understanding that we will keep things quiet for the coming week, so progress on all aspects of the MOU can be worked on in a productive environment, without missiles flying,” a US official tells the Axios news site. “The President has been clear that every time they shoot, we will shoot more — and at targets that further degrade their position in the Strait.”

US Vice President JD Vance said earlier today that the US technical team “is sitting down with the Iranians, with the Qataris, and with others in Doha… ensuring that we continue to make the progress… It’s still pretty early, but talks are going well.”

It’s unclear whether US talks are happening directly with the Iranians or indirectly through Qatari and Pakistani mediators. Iran has insisted that it isn’t meeting with the US amid ongoing disputes over implementation of the MOU.

“The Gulf is currently in discussions about how the Strait should be managed after [the MOU expires] and those discussions are converging” with the US-Iran negotiations, a US official says.

In response to Iran’s efforts to charge tolls in Hormuz after the 60-day period expires, “the US message to Iran was ‘Think bigger,'” the official says, claiming the sums Iran could generate from developing and selling oil after the US lifts sanctions under the deal “would be 100 times more valuable to them than using a gangster tactic to try and charge a toll.”

“We are pushing them to think bigger about their potential in the context of a broader nuclear and regional non-intervention deal,” the US official says.

Al Arabiya reports that during the technical talks today in Doha, the sides reached an understanding regarding the release of the first batch of frozen Iranian funds held by Qatar.

A regional source says $3 billion would be made available to the Iranian central bank for buying humanitarian goods, at least some of which will come from the US market. US officials had previously claimed that all of the money would go toward buying American products.

Meanwhile, US officials denied that an agreement had been reached on the release of the $3 billion in Iranian funds.

Iranian negotiators also raised their concern over Israel’s continued presence in Lebanon, in apparent violation of the MOU, which required all military operations there to cease.

A regional source says the US negotiators conveyed to the Iranians that Washington had managed to coax Israel to withdraw from two areas of south Lebanon and that additional pull-backs would take place if the first ones are properly implemented.