Ammon News - As talks due to open in Islamabad, three American and regional diplomatic sources tell Israel Hayom that Iran has agreed to hand over all the enriched uranium in its possession, though it is still unclear who will receive the material. The options are Russia, which has already expressed willingness to do so; the International Atomic Energy Agency, which would have to locate a site to store and process the material; or the United States itself.

The Americans are demanding to take part in the operation to locate the enriched uranium, but Iran has not yet agreed to that and is prepared only to allow International Atomic Energy Agency personnel to do so. This progress in contacts over recent weeks between the Americans and Iran is the source of the optimism shown by President Donald Trump, but several fundamental disputes still remain, according to Israel Hayom.

One is the missile project, which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps refuses to discuss limiting. The second concerns assistance to regional terrorist organizations. Here, too, there has been progress, but Iran is demanding that it be allowed to provide nonmilitary aid to those organizations, such as rebuilding the homes of Hezbollah terrorist operatives in Lebanon.

Another dispute concerns Iran's frozen funds. The Americans are prepared to unfreeze about $20 billion in the first stage, on condition that the money be used for civilian purposes after agreements are reached. Iranian officials say the amount is insufficient for the most urgent civilian needs and are refusing oversight of how the money is spent.

On the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran appears set to back away from its demand to collect transit fees there, but because of opposition from senior Revolutionary Guards officials, it is conditioning the reopening of the strait on a parallel lifting of the American blockade.

If the talks in Pakistan continue Iran's trend toward flexibility, the US will announce an extension of the ceasefire to allow the completion of the negotiations. At the same time, the Americans, as reported in Israel Hayom, are demanding a commitment from all parts of the regime to the agreements, since in earlier stages, leaders of the Revolutionary Guards overturned understandings reached by the political echelon conducting the negotiations.

In Washington, officials attribute Iran's greater flexibility to economic pressure and the dangerous depletion of the regime's cash reserves. The economic picture, which looked very bad even before the war, has worsened further with the spread of poverty across the country.