New Delhi, June 15 -- TEHRAN - The sentence that matters most in the Iran-US draft memorandum of understanding is not the one about Hormuz, and it is not the one about nuclear weapons. It is the one about oil. According to Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency, which published details of the draft text on Sunday, the document commits the United States to suspending sanctions on the sale of Iranian crude, petrochemical products, and petrochemical derivatives - not after a final deal is struck, but immediately upon signing. Treasury Department waivers, the text states, would take effect the moment ink goes on the page.

That commitment, if honored, would mark the largest single act of US sanctions relief toward Iran in decades. The question...