The United States and Iran agreed Sunday on a framework to end their war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and halt the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, a breakthrough that sent oil prices tumbling and offered the first serious prospect of stability in a region that has been in open conflict since late February.
“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Sunday evening. Minutes later he added: “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”
The agreement will be formally signed Friday in Switzerland, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed.
What We Know So Far
The deal calls for the immediate and permanent end to military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel has continued striking targets linked to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement, Sharif said in a post on X.
Trump confirmed he had authorized the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and the toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade,” he wrote.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Tehran would not begin implementing its terms until the formal signing Friday. He said the agreement followed more than 14 hours of talks in Tehran with a Qatari representative, one of two key mediators alongside Pakistan. Reuters confirmed the agreement after U.S. and Iranian officials separately acknowledged the framework.
Under the terms of the draft agreement, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, the United States will release $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets. In return, Iran agreed not to produce or acquire nuclear weapons and committed to maintaining the existing nuclear status quo, meaning no further uranium enrichment or expansion of nuclear facilities, until a longer-term agreement is reached. A senior U.S. official said the final arrangement would ultimately lead to the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, with its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be destroyed or removed. Iran’s position, as conveyed by its senior official to Reuters, is that any enriched uranium should be diluted inside the country rather than transferred abroad.
Brent crude futures dropped four percent in early Monday trading on the news. U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell more than 4.6 percent, Reuters confirmed, as markets reacted to the prospect of resumed oil shipments through the strait, through which roughly twenty percent of the world’s oil supply flowed before the war effectively shut it down.
The pact does not resolve all outstanding disputes between Washington and Tehran. A 60-day period has been established for technical negotiations on the broader nuclear question, sanctions relief, and related issues. Pakistan’s two senior officials, speaking without authorization to discuss the matter publicly, told the Associated Press that the timeline could be extended if the parties require more time.
What Authorities Are Saying
Trump framed the agreement as a defining achievement, celebrating it on social media even as he acknowledged that Sunday’s Israeli strike on Beirut had complicated the final hours of negotiation. “This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran,” Trump wrote earlier Sunday.
Sharif credited the mediation efforts of Pakistan, Qatar, and supporting nations and described the agreement as a foundation for longer-term peace. “Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” he said.
Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the parliamentary speaker who led Tehran’s delegation and who had a historic face-to-face meeting with Vice President JD Vance during earlier rounds of talks, had earlier warned on X that Israel’s Beirut strike showed the United States lacked the will to honor its commitments. Iran’s foreign ministry went further, holding Washington directly responsible for the Israeli attack and warning of a strong response. Despite those sharp words, the deal was confirmed hours later.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, facing internal pressure from hard-liners opposed to any agreement, urged national unity ahead of the announcement. He called it a disgrace when opponents of negotiation stood before parliament and labeled diplomats as traitors, the Associated Press noted.
Iranian state television displayed a banner asserting that the United States had been forced to sign the agreement, a framing that reflected the domestic political pressures weighing on Tehran’s leadership even as it finalized terms with Washington.
Israel’s government, which was not a party to the negotiations and has consistently resisted American pressure to halt its operations in Lebanon, had not issued a formal response to the announcement as of Sunday evening. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that Israel retains full freedom of military operations in Lebanon regardless of any U.S.-Iran arrangement. Trump updated Netanyahu on the deal’s progress during a phone call Sunday, Israel’s N12 television reported, citing a senior official.
Why This Matters
The war that began February 28, when U.S. and Israeli forces launched strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has left thousands dead, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and has inflicted severe damage on the global economy through the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait is the passage through which a fifth of the world’s oil, natural gas, and related products such as fertilizer normally flow. Its effective shutdown since the early weeks of the conflict drove fuel prices sharply higher, contributed to rising food costs across import-dependent nations, and rattled financial markets from Asia to Europe. The political fallout reached Washington directly, with public opinion surveys showing Americans deeply frustrated by elevated gas prices ahead of November’s midterm elections, a dynamic that added urgency to the administration’s push for a settlement.
Yet the deal, as currently structured, leaves unresolved the central issues that the United States and Israel cited as justifications for going to war. Iran retains its missile program, continues to support armed proxies including Hezbollah, and holds 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to sixty percent purity, a technically short step from the ninety percent threshold for weapons-grade material, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran has consistently maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile, which is believed to be stored beneath three nuclear sites badly damaged by American strikes last year.
Russia has offered to take custody of the enriched uranium. Trump has at various points demanded its destruction. Iran’s preference, as Gharibabadi indicated, is to dilute it within the country. That three-way disagreement over what happens to the material will define the 60-day negotiation period that follows Friday’s signing.
The agreement also reflects a significant shift in Iran’s strategic position. Despite losing its supreme leader and suffering extensive damage to military and nuclear infrastructure, Tehran enters the post-war period having demonstrated its capacity to disrupt global energy supplies and extract substantial concessions, including $25 billion in unfrozen assets, without formally dismantling its nuclear capabilities. That outcome will be studied carefully by governments across the Middle East and beyond.
For Trump, the deal represents a political exit from a conflict that had become a domestic liability, while allowing him to claim a historic diplomatic achievement. Whether it holds, and whether the 60-day technical talks produce the durable nuclear settlement his administration has promised, will determine its lasting significance.
What Happens Next
Qatari negotiators flew to Tehran Sunday to help finalize the agreement, a source with knowledge of the discussions told the New York Times. The formal signing ceremony is set for Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, where U.S. and Iranian negotiators met in February before the war began.
Vice President Vance is expected to lead the American delegation at the signing. Iran’s top negotiator, parliamentary speaker Qalibaf, is expected to represent Tehran, according to Axios.
The Strait of Hormuz is expected to reopen Friday, with the U.S. naval blockade lifting simultaneously. Trump said the strait would be toll-free, a point that remains in tension with Iran’s stated intention to charge service fees for ships transiting the waterway, a dispute that the 60-day negotiations will need to address.
Lebanon remains the most volatile element of the agreement’s immediate future. Israel has stated it will not withdraw from Lebanon and retains the right to strike Hezbollah targets regardless of any ceasefire arrangement. Iran has insisted that any deal must include a full halt to Israeli operations there. How that contradiction is managed, or whether it is simply deferred, will shape the durability of what both sides are now calling peace.
At pro-government rallies across Iran on Saturday night, hardliners chanted opposition to the framework. A resident in the northeastern city of Mashhad told Reuters that some demonstrators chanted “Death to the compromiser,” in an apparent reference to Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. That domestic friction, combined with Israel’s unresolved position, means that Friday’s signing will be a beginning rather than an ending.
AP/Reuters
