The first three Iranian oil tankers carrying oil have left the blockade zone imposed by the U.S. armed forces in the Strait of Hormuz.

This was announced by a specialized agency, two days before the signing ceremony for a framework agreement between Tehran and Washington to end the war in the Middle East and to begin negotiations on the most contentious issues, particularly U.S. sanctions and the Iranian nuclear program.

After more than three months of war, arduous negotiations, and countless reversals by Donald Trump, the U.S. and Iran finally announced that they had reached an agreement on the broad outlines.

Details about the agreement’s content are trickling out, however, and the text is “very general” and amounts to no more than “one and a half pages”, as U.S. Vice President Jay D. Vance put it in an interview with CNN.

Even before the framework agreement was signed, the first results are already evident, according to Iranian diplomats. The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, imposed on April 13, in retaliation for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the outbreak of armed conflict in late February, has now been lifted.

Three very large crude carriers (VLCCs) belonging to the Iranian state-owned National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), loaded with a total of 4.8 million barrels oil, have passed through the blockade perimeter, according to a report via X by the specialized maritime shipping monitoring service TankerTrackers.

Earlier, Iranian state television had announced that Iranian oil tankers had resumed their voyages.

Donald Trump announced that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen “fully” the day after tomorrow, following the signing. Its closure had brought maritime hydrocarbon transport to a standstill and sent oil prices soaring in the markets.

Yesterday, however, the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent crude, the benchmark variety, fell below $80 for the first time since March. At around 6:30 a.m. (Greek time), it was down 0.32%, at $78.81.

Crude oil sales

The Wall Street Journal, citing its sources, reported that Washington has given Tehran the green light to begin offering its oil for sale on the markets “immediately,” as part of the framework agreement and, to facilitate this, is lifting sanctions in the areas of banking and transportation.

However, uncertainties remain regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran does not intend to return to the status quo ante, the pre-war situation; but rather intends to collect fees for “services” it provides to ships, while the Trump administration wants transits to be allowed free of charge.

In an article in Time magazine, Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group assesses that the framework agreement does not constitute “significant progress in the broad sense of the term,” as it does not reconcile the “irreconcilable narratives” of either side, nor does it resolve “the dispute” over Iran’s nuclear program, nor does it establish “a new regional order.”

But “it offers American diplomacy some breathing room” and allows it to set aside the violence that nearly buried it.”

The signing ceremony is expected to take place the day after tomorrow at a luxury hotel in Bergenstein, a mountain overlooking Lake Lucerne (central Switzerland), the Swiss government informed the French Press Agency.

In attendance will be Iran’s chief negotiator, the Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bayer Galibaf, and U.S. Vice President Jay D. Vance, while it has not been ruled out that U.S. President Trump, who is not far from there on the shores of Lake Geneva—he is attending the G7 summit in Evian—might attend.

The first round of talks aimed at reaching a “final agreement” is expected to begin immediately afterward, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

There are many disagreements and the differences are enormous. This is especially true regarding Iran’s nuclear energy program and the U.S. sanctions that are suffocating the Iranian economy.

The head of Iranian diplomacy reiterated yesterday the importance Tehran attaches to ending hostilities in Lebanon between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, which is aligned with Iran.

But in Israel, where the U.S.-Iran agreement leaves a bitter taste, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the army will remain in Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip “for as long as necessary.”