Iran and US agree deal to end war | BBC News

Breaking news in the last few minutes.President Donald Trump announced the U .S.struck a deal with Iran to end the war.On Truth Social, the president, quote, posted, the deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete.Congratulations to all.

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.Ships of the world, start your engines, let the oil flow.Well, it comes moments after Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, also announced a deal had been made.Pakistan emerged as a key mediator between the two countries, passing messages between Tehran and Washington and hosting regional powers.In his tweet, the Prime Minister said, following intensive talks, we are pleased to announce that the peace deal between the United States of America and Iran has been reached.Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

He added that the official signing ceremony will be on Friday, June 19th in Switzerland.Mr. Sharif went on to say, we would like to thank the United States of America.and the Islamic Republic of Iran for their commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict.Mr Sharif also paid tribute to other Muslim -majority nations that had played a role in the US -Iran talks, writing, great leadership of the state of Qatar for their support in reaching this agreement.I would also especially thank the visionary leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Turkey for their immense contributions in this regard.The Prime Minister concluded on a logistical note, writing, with the agreement now in place,

mediators will facilitate a series of meetings this week.These pre -implementation discussions will lay the foundation for the technical talks and the official signing ceremony.Well, we have team coverage on this breaking story in the Middle East and here in Washington from our North America correspondent and our BBC Persian correspondent.First of all, let's speak to our North America correspondent, Thomas Morgan, to get the view from Washington.So you're down there, Thomas, at the UFC event, a big event for Donald Trump on his 80th birthday.What are we likely to hear beyond what he has already said on social media, do you think?

Well I think no doubt when he comes out he will be lapping up the crowd here.And what a present, really, for the President on his birthday.He's been saying all week that the deal was almost there.He's been saying for weeks, actually, the deal was almost there.I think the questions at the start of the week and throughout the last week was, actually, is it going to get signed?And I think the noises we were hearing from every side, really, was that it was closer than ever.

We had top US White House officials saying the deal was 85 % there on Thursday and Friday.We had the Pakistanis saying it was almost there, and the Qataris, the two key mediators in this discussion.And we also had Tehran at the end of the week also saying that the majority of the deal they were happy with, they were just frustrated with certain elements by the US that, in their words, were changing at the last minute.But I think you could see increasingly over the course of the last two weeks, and in particular the last week, a frustrated President Donald Trump, especially in his posts on Truth Social on social media he was clearly getting extremely frustrated not only with Iran but alsowith Israel as well.He was getting frustrated with the fact that they were continuing to throw bombs at each other, Iran against the US military in the Strait of Hormuz, but also Hezbollah and South Lebanon and Israel, that conflict there.

He was getting frustrated that those two things were possibly going to derail the signing of this peace deal and this conflict coming to an end.And even today, actually, really quite a lambasting phone call.of Iran key conduit for 20 % of global oil and liquefied gas will reopen and over the next few weeks and months we may see prices finally coming down and I'm sure the markets will be reacting positively tomorrow.The other things that will be coming out from this deal is that the economic sanctions on Iran will be lifted as long as they adhere to the deal and as well the the nuclear question.That one is still going to be discussed.As much as Donald Trump says that this means that there will be no nuclear weapon being able to be built in Iran, those discussions are continuing and they will do for the next 60 days.

And Tomas, you are at a big public event which is part of the 250th anniversary celebrations, the public gathering in Washington DC, the public genderhave very much not been behind this war because we know rising gas prices, fertilizer prices, meaning the cost of food, remaining high. How muchHow much of a pressure has that been for Donald Trump?He hasn't actually talked about it much, but we know that he does care what people think.

Yeah, I think you're right.And I think that was another reason for the kind of the way that he was clearly getting more and more frustrated in his postings on social media on this issue.He recognized, although, as you say, he never came out and said it.In fact, actually, on the point of inflation itself, I think he It's interesting, really.On the day that it was announced that inflation in the US was rising at its fastest rate for three years, you almost kind of laughed it off, saying inflation is such a good idea.But I don't think it would have been lost on him that when he called off strikes against Iran a day or so later, the markets reacted positively and the price of oil did drop.

And that wouldn't have been lost on him or his officials.And I think there has been pressure on him.You mentioned there as well, so many polls have shown that the public's confidence or the public's want and need for this conflict has never been great at all.And they've always wanted it to end.It was a promise that there wouldn't be any more conflicts in the Middle East when President Trump came to office.But that kind of is what happened.

So he was always under pressure from the very start of this war to bring it to an end.It has taken some time, but it does appear as though the fighting has now stopped.But there is, as I mentioned, some certain negotiations continuing.

Friday.Thomas Morgan, thank you very much.We're now getting some reaction from Iran.The Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharbabadi confirmed the text of a Memorandum of Understanding has been finalised and the official signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding will happen in Switzerland.Friday.I'm joined now by BBC Persian Shader Houshmandi.

What else are we hearing out of Tehran, Shader?Presumably, as America is, they're casting this as a victory there too.

Yes, as we were expecting, they have now officially confirmed that it has gone through.The immediate reaction from people, from many Iranians, appears to be one of relief after months of conflict now, you know, when the fight stops.And even if it's temporarily for 60 days, it's being welcomed by many people that are sort of exhausted by the war.But that relief also is mixed with anxiety because there are growing concerns that among also especially amongst activists, journalists and families of those who were detained during the recent uprising and unrest, that a ceasefire could actually be followed by a tougher crackdown domestically, as we've seen before.So thousands of people, as you may recall, were arrested during the uprising and many fear that now the security measures and political restrictions could intensify rather than ease.But it's also important to consider that the tensions between Iran and Israel have not disappeared.

And as we are speaking, even though there is a deal between Tehran and Washington, there are reports that Tehran was actually seriously considering a military response to Israeli strikes, even though Donald Trump made the remarks, spoke with media, and also made the announcement on this.Truth Social that that this shouldn't happen.And we've seen three Iranian officials have told New York Times that they were going to do the retaliatory attacks, but they somehow stopped it.And this tension is always going to be there, especially because in the eyes of Israel as well, no deal with Iran is a good deal.So, it will be interesting to see in the coming weeks that how different players in this tension position themselves and really if the rhetoric from the Iranian hardliners is going to change towards Israel and the issue between Israel and Hezbollah.

Okay, Shada, thank you for now.Well, Israeli strikes on Lebanon's capital on Sunday almost derailed diplomatic efforts.Israel's military confirmed at least three people were killed in the strikes targeting a Hezbollah command center in Beirut.President Trump condemned the Israeli attack and called on both sides to stop firing.Now we're hearing the deal does include Lebanon, a longstanding demand from Tehran.joining me live is our global affairs correspondent Sebastian Asher in Jerusalem.

So, Sebastian, we know that President Trump was very frustrated with Netanyahu and now we know that this agreement, it's one of the few details we have at this stage, includes Lebanon.What's Israel likely to make of that?

I mean, that is very interesting that the Pakistani Prime Minister said that, but it's all conflicts and essentially a cessation of the war in Lebanon.I mean, Israel isn't a part of this deal, we've just seen in the Israeli media report.that President Trump did inform the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the deal was about to go through.We also know that earlier today, as you were saying there, he had a very robust conversation again with Netanyahu after Israel carried out strikes again on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which raised the prospect of Iran firing missiles again towards Israel, exactly as happened a week ago.There were signals from Iranian officials that that might be coming.The first reaction here, I think, would be relief of those who are still awake that this isn't likely, it seems now, to be a night where people will be hearing an alarm and they'll be needing to rush to their shelters.

But I had a feeling with that strike even then, and with the warnings that Iran gave that it would carry out attacks, that that wouldn't derail the deal.It had got so close, President Trump wanted this so badly, and it looked for the first time, really, that the Iranians did too, that it wasn't likely to shake that off.I think the feeling here in Israel, what we have had so far during the past few weeks when it has looked like a deal might be close, is a sense that it is unfinished business, not just at the level of the government, at the level of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the opposition politicians, but also the public.There is still, I'm sure many correspondents have said this, all this period that this has been going on, that the Israeli public, which is divided in many ways, is relatively united on seeing Iran as an existential threat and Hezbollah as a lesser existential threat and that what What Mr Netanyahu has got wrong is in not again being able to listen.take away the threat that it still might hold for Israel.We'll have to see how those negotiations go, how much all these issues get nailed down about Iran's nuclear programme, etc.

But I think even more so with Lebanon.If genuinely, and there's a huge question mark over this, because there's been no sense up until this point that Israel is ready to fully stop it's offensive against Hezbollah is ready to withdraw from southern Lebanon.That is a huge shift if that's the case and it's very early in this process at the stage of a memorandum of understanding rather than something that would be negotiated during the next 60 days or so.If that is what is being presented, if that is what President Trump and has essentially signed up to with Iran, that poses a very big problem for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.He has essentially said that this is a war that is necessary for Israel, but it needs to prosecute it according to its issues, its needs, obviously taking into account the pressure from President Trump, the pressure from the US, but still it is Israel's prerogative to pursue that war.And from the opposition side here politically in Israel, and we have elections coming up soon, they are making hay of the fact that Mr Netanyahu appears to have failed in this mission, the one that he set out.

And essentially what we've had from two of the main opposition leaders setting out what he's done wrong in themany ways.Not starting or responding to Hezbollah by launching this new major offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, not moving deeper into Lebanese territory than Israel has for more than two decades, but that he is stopping when it's unfinished business, when Hezbollah still is a threat, just now there are reports in the Israeli media that there's rocket fire that may have come close or even into northern Israel.That is something that makes Mr Netanyahu very vulnerable domestically here because he's seen as setting out, as I say, this big promise that he's the man who is able finally to eliminate that threat from Hezbollah if there's a ceasefire now and Israel does stop its offensive and it does does begin to withdraw its troops.Many here will feel that that is a mission that hasn't accomplished what he said it would.And as I say, opposition politicians will say, if we were in charge of this, our strategy would have achieved those aims.

It would have been far more practical.It would be far better thought out.Not that it's wrong to have carried out such an offensive, but it's wrong to have failed in it.

Five days for all parties to toe the line.A lot can happen in that time.Sebastian Usher, thank you for joining us from Jerusalem.Well, let's speak now to Aaron David Miller.He's an American Middle East analyst, author, and negotiator, and a senior fellow for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on US foreign policy.Thanks for being with us.

Obviously, this is going to be hailed as a big success, is it?

You know, I'd like to break open the champagne bottles now.And I think it's good that at least for the next 60 days, assuming each side maintains its commitment.that the shooting is going to stop.There'll be no more U .S.strikes on Iran and no more Iranian strikes, presumably, on shipping through the Straits or on Gulf states.

But as a longtime negotiator, you know, I want to see the text.And I find it quite curious.This is a very interesting and intriguing process by which this has been announced.I mean, first you had the Pakistani mediator, Qataris chimed in, and the president went on social media.Then the deputy foreign minister, apparently, haven't heard any additional authoritative confirmation from the Iranians.The question is the text, because every issue in the text, including the confidence builders, that is to say, under what circumstances will the straits be open?

and under what circumstances would the American naval blockade be eased?That's going to prove to be a headache, not just because you've got a thousand ships stacked up.And shipping companies know how to do this.You can get a hundred plus through each day.This is going to be a long -term process.And if it's performative -based, that is to say, If the Iranians only get what they get, if they do what they say they're supposed to do, it's critically important, I think, to see the actual document.

But again, I don't want to, you know, naysay this.It's clearly a framework which will buy the time and space to determine whether or not all the loose ends, sanctions or relief, unfreezing of Iranian assets?What to do about the highly enriched uranium, the 900 pounds?What to do about the 11 tons of uranium enriched since theU .S.S.

left the JCPOA?What to do about mutual security guarantees?And then what to do about Iran's nuclear infrastructure?All of these things contain a universe of detail and a complexity, which is going to have to be joined.So again, I think we'll see how the negotiations go.And then, of course, there's Lebanon.

The Iranians did not respond when they said they would.What price did they extract from Donald Trump for staying their hand?I think this will be an interesting question.And of course, the Israelis, the prime minister is beside himself, and according to reports, has asked for an urgent meeting with the president.

And you outlined some issues there that have been, of course, huge sticking points, not least the frozen assets, also the huge nuclear issue.What do you think in terms of the detail that we may actually get on this?There has been pretty scant detail from the Trump administration throughout this conflict.Do you expect to get full detail and if so, when?

No, I expect to see a text.I'm reminded of the great Hollywood mogul Samuel Goldwyn, who said an oral agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on.Where is the text?And even at this late hour, is the Iranian and U .S.understanding of the elements on this one or two -page memorandum of understanding?

Let's hope it doesn't turn into a memorandum of misunderstanding.But again, I don't want to undermine what's occurred.The good news is, if it holds, you'll get a relatively prolonged period, two months.You'll buy yourself time and space.assuming Lebanon doesn't explode, to test the proposition that the gaps on all of these issues, which frankly, it seems to me are as wide as the Grand Canyon right now, can actually be bridged.

Politically, what do you make of the timing of this?Donald Trump's 80th birthday today, a big UFC fight at the White House.He was clearly very keen to push this through.He presumably wanted to make this announcement on this particular day.

I mean, he didn't make Sunday in Tehran, but he made Sunday in Washington.You know, I was reminded of Jimmy Carter and the hostage release.The Iranians willfully, purposefully delayed the release of the hostages since Jimmy Carter was no longer president.I had assumed, basically, that the Iranians were not going to give Donald Trump what he wanted.They weren't going to give him a birthday present, and they would have let this drift for a day or two.But I think one unanswered question is, what, in fact, if anything, did the Iranians demand or ask the president for in an effort to stay their hand and not respond to Israel's strikes against Hezbollah in the Dahiya, in the southern suburbs?

And, of course, this morphs into the issue, again, of the concerns of this Israeli prime minister.Nothing that he wanted with respect to the war objectives is going to be achieved.There will not be restrictions on ballistic missiles.There will be no cutting of Iran's relationship with its proxies.The regime is harder line than ever before.There's no regime change in Iran.

And frankly,the notion that Donald Trump has taken the Iranians at their word that they will never have a nuclear weapon, we've heard this so many times.The Iranians have an enormous nuclear infrastructure.They have scientific knowledge and capacity, which frankly, over time, will give them the option, should they choose to exercise it, to assemble all of the elements of a weapon, the fissile material, the computer modeling, the miniaturization of the warhead, the delivery system, and ultimately the testing.I think this regime, we've watched a transition from divine power, domination by the clerics, to hard power, domination by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.I think this will only accelerate Iran's need for the ultimate hedge, which is a weapon.

And yeah, I'm interested in that, you mentioned there about the regime and that initially stated goal, one of many stated goals at the beginning of this about regime change.What do you think has happened to the regime from the beginning or before this conflict to where it is now?That phrase that you use from divine power to hard power, has it essentially become more hardline, therefore more of a threat to the world?

I mean, some would say that's not possible, given the death to Israel, death to America mantras and policies of Iran under Ali Khamenei.But I really believe, you know, it's the killing of Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.And again, I'm not an Iranian expert.I don't play one on television or on the radio.But it's clear to me the elimination of Ali Khamenei may well have been one of the more transformative happened on the first day of the war, February 28th.One of the more transformative aspects of what we're watching play out.

The glass has cracked.You cannot have this kind of military deployment and strikes.Iran is going to emerge differently.The glass is going to be pieced back together in a different shape.And Ali Khamenei's demise, he was the key balancer.He was quite cautious and risk averse when it came to confronting the United States.

We've seen none of that risk aversion.from this crowd.They've been very risk -ready, striking Israel directly for Israel's strikes on Hezbollah, reaffirming the importance of their billion -dollar proxy, being willing to confront the U .S.naval assets in the Gulf.So it's hard to say how this is all going to play out, but I don't think Iran will emerge in the shape that it has been governed since 1989.

by Ali Khamenei.We'll see how it all goes.I don't think we should expect anything like a transformation.But I suspect over time, things may change, whether they change in a harder line direction or one that would somehow give voice to Iran's people's popular aspirations, I doubt.But it's something that we need to watch, I think, very carefully.

OK, Aaron David Miller, we appreciate your time.Thank you for joining us.

Thanks.Thanks so much for having me.

Well, we can go now to former NATO Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison.We can talk a bit more about the diplomacy surrounding all of this.Thank you for being with us, Ambassador.First, let me get your initial thoughts.We heard from Aaron David Miller there being a bit sceptical about the real value of this deal.What is your take on it from the minimal detail that we have so far?

Well, as you said, we don't know everything.I think it is a start.At least we will see the Strait of Hormuz open, which will ease a lot of the tension in the world.But I think he was correct, and we all are, in the devil in the details.And looking at what happens now, and then what was in the language or what is in the language regarding the key points that have been agreed for the discussion, and the discussion of the nuclear capability is key.And everyone that is in this is going to be looking at the verification part of the nuclear agreement when it is set.

OK, Ambassador, this news comes amid an upcoming G7 summit, of course, in Geneva.French President Emmanuel Macron says the summit will discuss the long -term reopening of the Hormuz Strait.How do you think this is likely to go down over there?Because European leaders in particular have been fairly critical, openly critical about this war in Iran and perhaps the days of playing nice with Trump, maybe not over, but certainly not what they used to be.Is this deal likely to decrease tensions in that summit, do you think?

Well, I think the president will set the tone, and so will the European heads of state that will be there at the G7.And then, remember, the next week will be the summit with all the heads of state at NATO.And I hope it is a time for a reset, because I don't think it is a cohesive alliance right now.And I think we all know thatthere's been fire on both sides, but the Europeans talk publicly about Iran in a different way from what they say one -on -one.Everyone knows that we needed to stop the capability of Iran to have a nuclear weapon, especially after we saw that Iran has the ballistic missile capability that was more than any of us had known before.

So, I think The G7 and the NATO summit this month will really go a long way toward putting us back together, I hope.into what everyone will do and what they think, and then will everyone be working together to assure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon, and that we have verification that we can agree is going to make sure that that is adhered to, as the JCPOA did not.

to better that deal.We don't know the details of any nuclear agreement.That is this crucial 60 -day period that would offer more on that.Let's talk more about the Iranian perspective.Joining me live now is Imran Bayoumi.He's Associate Director with the Geostrategy Initiative at the Atlantic Council.

Thanks for being with us, Imran.So how much substance and value do you think this agreement has from what we know at the moment?

So I think it has value in the sense that it's ended the war at this point.it's a formalization of the 60 -day ceasefire, so we'll see that continue.But like the previous guest said, we still don't have details.And those harder topics, issues such as Iran's support for proxies, Iran's missile program, and most notably, Iran's nuclear program, all of those still have to be ironed out.

Iranian state TV hailing this as a victory.How do you think they're likely to continue to frame what is emerging today?

So I think there's some political posturing on both sides.I will say, though, I think the Iranian regime comes out of this conflict emboldened.The Supreme Leader was killed on the first day of the war, but the regime has not fallen.If anything, they're more emboldened, they're more hard -lined, and I would expect them to continue taking that posture forward.They'll be willing and assertive in the region, and they'll look to gain concessions that they didn't have before the war.

Yeah, what could that mean going forward?You say that they're emboldened.Also, they now have this key tool being able to close the Strait of Hormuz, which we know has caused chaos to the global economy.Is that a tool that they could use again?

So I think on the strait, the question will be what kind of mechanisms are put in place to ensure it remains open and transitable?You know, previously we saw the UK and France discussing the creation of a multinational effort to keep the strait open.They said they would be prepared to start that effort immediately once hostilities ceased.And so I think the president, President Trump, that is, will probably push for that mission to start at the G7 tomorrow.I would expect other countries to join that todemonstrated the ability of their drones and missiles to wreak havoc across the region.

And they could do that again if they feel threatened or just want to cause tensions to increase.

OK, I think we can hear from President Obama now.Obviously, there's been lots of discussion about his nuclear deal in 2015, the JCPOA.He was speaking to ABC News on Sunday.And he said he doesn't think this deal would be much different to the one agreed with Iran in 2015.That agreement restricted Iran's nuclear enrichment program and enforced inspections in return for sanctions relief on Iran's economy.

It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it.

Well, let's go back to Imran Bayoumi.Thanks for staying with us, Imran.So President Obama there talking about the JCPOA.Donald Trump loves the deal.Of course, he promised he could get a much better deal than that one from how things look at the moment.Is there a chance of that?

Again, I think we need to wait and see what the details Iran'sthink?

concessions call himself, I think, the peacemaker -in -chief at one point, but obviously has gone into far more conflict than many people who voted for him would have liked.How much pressure at home do you think there was that essentially led Donald Trump to really clearly want a deal?And is that something that the Iranians used to their advantage, that sense that for them they could keep going because it's more existential, and that for Donald Trump the political clock was ticking, of course, on November's midterms?

So I think the main pressure that Trump felt at home is actually on the economic side.Inflation is rising, cost of living is increasing for many Americans and affordability is really a key message ahead of the midterms this November.And so I think he felt more pressure to end the war to ease prices rather than from a position of American military weakness.That being said, on the Iranian side, I think while they saw this conflict as existential, it would be a mistake not to realize that the regime is still weakened and still facing economic constraints.All of those headwinds that were present before the war still exist and, if anything, have been exacerbated.And so while they saw this as an existential fight, it's not that they escaped without any kind of hit or impact themselves.

And what do we know, Imran, about what Iran might get for actually reopening the Strait of Hormuz, one of the big critical points?Donald Trump made of that Obama -era deal was giving Iran cash, essentially.It wasn't that straightforward, but that's how he viewed it.Are we essentially going to see the same thing here?

So I think Iran will immediately get, it seems as indicated by the President in his social media post tonight, the lifting of the U .S.naval blockade.Previously, it had been mentioned that the blockade would be lifted gradually over a period of days.The President said that would be an immediate lifting.And then to your point, I think the sanctions relief is the really next big topic.

So we'll see if the President allows Iran to sell sanctioned oil or if they just lift sanctions across the board.I would think that these would probably be tied to ongoing negotiations, so if progress is made on the nuclear file, on Iran's support for proxies on missiles, we would see sanctions gradually lifted over this 60 -day period rather than all at once, though certainly I think Iran would push to have everything lifted right from the start.