DUBAI/WASHINGTON: U.S. and Iranian officials said they had reached an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a preliminary pact that sent oil prices falling but leaves the fate of Tehran’s nuclear program to further negotiations.
While still a framework, the deal marked the biggest breakthrough towards resolving the conflict that has killed thousands and upended energy markets since it began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at around 5:30 p.m. in Washington (2130 GMT) on Sunday. His post came shortly after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has served as a mediator, announced a deal had been struck early on Monday local time.
The memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland.
The precise terms were not immediately known. Sharif said in a post on X that the pact called for “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
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Lebanon has been a sticking point in negotiations, with Israel and Hezbollah ignoring calls from Trump and others to stop their attacks on each other in recent weeks.
In a statement, the secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, would end permanently starting on Monday night.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said a more expansive agreement would be negotiated during a 60-day ceasefire period, including sanctions relief for Iran.
The fate of Iran’s nuclear program, another thorny issue, will also be addressed in those later talks, sources previously told Reuters.
There was no immediate reaction to the announcement from Israel, which has said it was not party to the U.S.-Iran talks.