U.S. and Iran reach agreement to end war, Trump says
WASHINGTON— The United States and Iran have reached a framework agreement to end the war in the Middle East, President Trump said Sunday, marking a breakthrough in months of negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.
The deal, described by diplomats as a memorandum of understanding, follows the agreement signed in Switzerland on Friday, pledging Tehran to give up developing or purchasing nuclear weapons in exchange for help reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the rapid release of assets frozen abroad.
Trump also said he authorized the “immediate lifting of the U.S. Navy blockade” of imports from Iran.
“Earth Ships, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday evening. It was the president’s 80th birthday.
Full details of the agreement were not disclosed. Many details will continue to be negotiated in the coming days, including how Tehran will give up, destroy or dilute its fissile material, or whether Iran will continue to view the international strait as its sovereign waters.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that mediators plan to hold a series of meetings this week to “lay the foundation for technical talks and the official signing ceremony.”
“We thank the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran for their commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” Sharif wrote in a post on channel X.
Negotiations on key issues such as Iran’s nuclear program will continue for the next 60 days, according to two senior Pakistani officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, The Associated Press reported.
Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News that the White House was “still figuring out the logistics” of whether he or Trump would attend the signing ceremony.
“What we know is that we have a lot of work to do, but tonight is a huge win for the American people,” Vance said. “We will continue to work on this issue, we will continue to drive down energy prices, we will continue to ensure that this part of the world is less of a danger, and last but not least, we will celebrate that we can say with confidence that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not begin implementing the agreement until it was signed on Friday. He said the agreement followed more than 14 hours of talks in Tehran with another mediator, a representative from Qatar.
Iranian state television showed a banner reading “The United States was forced to sign an agreement to end the war.”
Iran’s commitment to refrain from using nuclear weapons would be a repeat of a promise Iran has made several times before; this includes the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the nuclear agreement brokered with international powers under the Obama administration 10 years ago.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 972 kilos of uranium enriched to 60% purity; That’s a technical step short of the 90% weapons-grade level. Under the international agreement with Iran canceled in 2015 by the first Trump administration, Iran’s uranium enrichment, limited to less than 4%It is being monitored by IAEA inspectors.
The uncertainty of the new deal, the demand for more negotiations to flesh out its details, and the pace of easing sanctions on Iran are likely to lead to criticism of the President, who began his political career in 2015 by attacking President Obama’s newly signed nuclear deal as a historically bad deal.
This agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, followed two years of difficult negotiations based on a similar but more detailed framework called the JCPOA.
The difference between the JCPOA and the way the Trump administration is handling negotiations is the “threat of military force,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.
“The biggest difference is that we do this from a position of strength,” Hegseth said. “This army can stay as long as necessary.”
And, as in 2015, Israeli leadership across the political aisle remains deeply skeptical of the deal, saying they will not be bound by a deal to which they are not party.
In a phone interview with the New York Times On Sunday afternoon, Trump called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a very difficult man.”
“Honestly, he should be very grateful to us for doing this. Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours,” Trump said.
There have been 3,468 confirmed deaths in Iran since the February 28 US-Israeli attacks on Iran that started the war. compared to independent monitors. Additionally, 13 US soldiers were killed and 23 Israelis, including eight civilians, were killed in Lebanon, along with 2,679 others in Israel’s war with Hezbollah.
