US President Donald Trump has said a preliminary agreement to end the war with Iran has already been signed and indicated that details of the accord will be made public “pretty soon”.
“I am very happy to say it’s signed, the deal is all signed,” Trump said during talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 summit on Monday, reports BBC.
Senior US officials also revealed some initial details of the agreement, saying the Strait of Hormuz will reopen on Friday, the same day the deal is scheduled to be formally signed in Geneva.
Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday, US Vice-President JD Vance said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Washington and Tehran was “about a page and a half” long and remained a broad framework document.
Vance said many of the finer points would be settled in future negotiations.
“On a number of issues, we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase, but what the MOU does is set up a framework whereby the Iranians get the benefits of the bargain by meeting their obligations under the bargain,” he said.
According to US officials, technical discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme are expected to begin this week. Any sanctions relief or release of frozen assets will depend on Iran fulfilling its commitments under the agreement.
Vance said the document’s opening section commits Iran to “regional peace and stability”, including ending support for what he described as “terrorist organisations”.
“Most importantly, they’re going to have a verifiable commitment to not building a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
US officials said Trump, Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf signed the agreement electronically.
They also suggested further details of the deal could be released by Wednesday, although Trump said the full text would be published “pretty soon” after Friday’s signing ceremony.
“It’s a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So probably pretty soon,” the president said.
The agreement extends the current ceasefire by another 60 days, allowing both sides time to negotiate a comprehensive final settlement.
Announcing the breakthrough on Sunday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country had been mediating between the parties, said the agreement included “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.
US officials clarified that while Lebanon falls within the ceasefire framework, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory is not a condition of the agreement. They added that Israel would continue to retain the right to self-defence.
Speaking on Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops would remain in security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza “as long as necessary” and would continue to have the freedom to respond to attacks.
He also stressed that Iran would not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, regardless of whether a deal is in place.
Netanyahu made the remarks after Lebanese media reported a deadly Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, the first such incident since the peace agreement was announced. Hezbollah said it had launched missiles and drones at Israeli forces in response.
Trump said on Sunday that he had ordered the immediate lifting of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and added that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen once the initial agreement was signed.
In a social media post on Monday, he claimed that “ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz”.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the end of military operations during a telephone interview with Iranian state television, which portrayed the framework agreement as a victory for Tehran.
Gharibabadi said Qatari mediators conducted “nearly 14 to 15 hours of lengthy talks” in Tehran to secure the preliminary agreement.
Iran’s top military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said the Iranian people, armed forces and Tehran’s regional allies had demonstrated to the US and Israel that they had “no option but to accept defeat and surrender”.
However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran continued to hold “deep mistrust” towards Washington and described the agreement as “merely a step towards reducing tensions”.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the development, saying he hoped the understandings reached would translate into “practical steps that will put a definitive end to the cycle of violence”.
Major points of contention in previous negotiations included Iran’s uranium enrichment activities and Western demands that Tehran never obtain a nuclear weapon, alongside Iran’s calls for broad sanctions relief and access to tens of billions of dollars in frozen oil revenues.
In a joint statement, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy said Iran “must never acquire a nuclear weapon” and pledged they were “prepared to lift relevant sanctions in response to clear, verifiable steps by Iran on its nuclear programme”.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the announcement as “a hugely important step forward in ending the war, ensuring regional stability and re-opening the Strait of Hormuz”.
