Fragile US-Iran interim deal faces 60-day test of trust

The breakthrough arrived early Monday when Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a 14-point memorandum intended to alleviate competing blockades in the Strait of Hormuz. The process, however, nearly collapsed multiple times, requiring Qatar to intervene in mid-May to bridge gaps that had paralyzed the talks. Negotiators described a grueling environment where debates occasionally fixated on single-word semantics while regional conflicts, including Israeli strikes in Lebanon, repeatedly pushed the process to the brink.

Securing the deal required intense, back-channel coordination. Qatari officials made five discreet trips to Tehran and even negotiated from within the White House to reconcile conflicting drafts. Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir played a pivotal role in maintaining communication lines during the final hours, despite complications stemming from fragmented Iranian leadership and unpredictable shifts in U.S. messaging. Experts warn that the upcoming negotiation phase will be even more demanding, as both Washington and Tehran continue to interpret the interim text through fundamentally different lenses.