BBCUnited States
Goldstein: 6.5Tone: 55.6CAMEO 06
US lifts naval blockade as Iran's supreme leader says Trump made deal 'out of desperation'
The US has dropped its naval blockade of Iran after the two countries signed a deal to end the war in the Middle East.
US Central Command confirmed the end of the blockade on X "in accordance with the President's direction", and said some US vessels would remain "in the general area".
Soon afterwards, Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved the deal with the US despite having a "different view", without elaborating. He said he allowed it to go ahead after assurances from Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian that he would "protect the rights of the Iranian nation".
Khamenei said President Trump had "out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage" to bring the deal about.
The supreme leader said that while there would be "in-person negotiations in the future" between Tehran and Washington, this "will not mean acceptance of the enemy's position".
This is the first time Khamenei has responded to the agreement. He has not been seen in public since he took office in March following the killing of his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the 28 February US-Israeli strikes on Iran that sparked the regional war.
Trump did not directly respond to Khamanei's statement, but posted on Truth Social that he expects a ceasefire to take effect "on all fronts", including between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that he expects countries in the Middle East to "maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations" to take place.
The US-Iran deal centres around 14 core points, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a requirement that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon, and a commitment to a $300bn (£227bn) fund for the "reconstruction and economic development" of the country - although the US is not required to contribute.
It also binds both sides to achieving a final deal in a "maximum" of 60 days, which could be extended with mutual consent.
The official signing ceremony had been set to take place in Switzerland on Friday. However, mediator Pakistan told the BBC it had been cancelled because the deal had already been signed remotely. US and Iranian representatives are still expected to meet in Switzerland for further talks.
A White House spokesperson said on Thursday evening that the US Vice-President JD Vance would not be departing tonight.
Speaking to reporters at a White House briefing earlier, Vance said the deal had come into effect, triggering the 60-day period of further talks, and that he would likely head to Switzerland for "technical negotiations".
He did not confirm when, adding that Iran was "not an easy country to get out of" and that they were "trying to figure out exactly when that was going to happen".
The White House spokesperson said the US was "looking forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible".
Trump's decision to end the war with Iran has raised criticism from some in the US, including Republicans dismayed by the terms of the deal - especially the provision of a reconstruction fund for Iran.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy described the agreement as the "worst foreign policy blunder in decades".
"Iran's nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works," he said.
Vance defended the deal on Thursday, saying that Iran will not receive money or sanctions relief unless it meets obligations set out in the agreement.
He said the deal, known as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), requires Iran to destroy its stockpile of enriched uranium, and show it will not fund proxy groups in the region.
Vance also castigated members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet for criticising the Iran deal, saying they should "wake up and smell the reality".
"If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world," the vice-president told reporters.
In an interview with the New York Times also published on Thursday, Vance named Israel's national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich as critics of the deal.
He said: "I guess my response to them would be - what is your exact proposal? You're a country of nine million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have."
Netanyahu himself stressed the importance of maintaining Israel's close ties with the US on Thursday, saying Washington had stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the country during the war with Iran.
But both Israel and Hezbollah have carried out strikes against each other since the US-Iran agreement was announced, including strikes reported in Lebanon on Thursday that killed three people.
Israel argues its conflict against Hezbollah is separate from its war on Iran. Hezbollah has also rejected the terms of the deal between Iran and the US.
Vance told reporters that Israel would have to respect the peace process with Iran, which he said was good for them, stating that attacks in Lebanon's capital Beirut that kill civilians are "not acceptable".
Open article →GDELTWashington D.C.
Goldstein: -5.3Tone: 0.7
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with the Iranian regime at the French palace of Versailles, where he dined with French President Emmanuel Macron after the G7 summit, the White House said.
“There have been have so many memorable days and proud accomplishments for the president and his team. The G7 was a huge success and an opportunity to make sure the members and other participates see ‘America First’ in action. Not America only, America first,” stated Susie Wiles, chief-of-staff to the U.S. president.
“The trip was capped off with a beautiful dinner and birthday celebration for President Trump at Versailles. This was truly spectacular, particularly after his blistering schedule of bilateral and other meetings and working sessions. Nobody works harder,” she stated. “President Trump signed the memorandum of understanding with Iranians while he was at dinner.”
“While the next 60 days will present challenges as important details are worked out, signing was a great step forward for America and, indeed, the world,” Wiles said.
Shehbaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan, stated that he was “honored to announce that the historic ‘Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding’ has been electronically signed today between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“The memorandum has been signed by honorable presidents of both the countries and also endorsed by me as the mediator,” he stated. “The signing of this agreement at the highest level of the respective governments demonstrates the commitment of both sides to a diplomatic resolution of the conflict.” He added that the agreement “shall enter into force with immediate effect and as a first step, Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the United States of America will immediately lift the naval blockade.”
Macron stated in French that the “agreement paves the way for lasting peace and allows the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.”
“It is an important step in the right direction for our compatriots that will soon enable a decrease in energy prices,” he stated.
JNS sought comment about the agreement earlier in the day from more than a dozen major Jewish organizations, almost all of which either didn’t respond or said that they were still trying to understand the implications of the memorandum of understanding.
Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, told JNS that the deal is a “disaster” that “benefits almost exclusively Iran” and “stabs Israel in the back.”
“The most horrifying thing—more than anything—is to tell Israel, who’s not a party to the negotiations, they have to leave Lebanon and stop fighting Hezbollah,” he said. “How on earth can a strong ally like America say to an extraordinary ally like Israel, who fought with them against Iran, that they have to leave Lebanon when Israel said we can’t?”
Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Wednesday, according to the IDF. The Israeli Air Force intercepted the rockets and struck the launcher.
“Iran arms and funds Hezbollah,” Klein told JNS. “They arm and fund Hamas and the Houthis, and it’s dangerous for Israel to allow Hezbollah to remain there or to leave the buffer zone.”
“You don’t negotiate with Islamist Nazis,” he added. “Trump has given up his leverage. This is not have you negotiate. This is the kind of deal that you expect of Obama, not of Donald Trump.”
Brian Romick, president and CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, told JNS that Trump “prolonged this war with an erratic strategy, and this deal does nothing to ensure long-term stability in the region.”
“To do that, we must permanently close off Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon, constrain its missile and drone capabilities, keep financial relief away from its weapons programs and terrorist proxies, ensure Israel’s right to defend itself from Hezbollah’s attacks and get real oversight from Congress,” he said.
“This deal accomplishes none of those goals and as such, won’t lead to the lasting peace we all want to see,” Romick told JNS.
The leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish organizations, an umbrella group, stated that they are “encouraged by President Trump’s repeated and unequivocal commitment that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon.”
“At the same time, many important questions remain unanswered,” they said. “We look forward to learning more about the memorandum, including its enforcement and verification provisions, consequences for non-compliance and how it addresses Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs, support for terrorist proxies and other destabilizing regional activities and the security concerns of U.S. allies and partners.”
The leaders of B’nai B’rith International stated that the organization “remains justifiably skeptical that Iran, the largest and most active state sponsor of terror around the world, will adhere to any of the provisions outlined in the memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 between the United States and Iran.”
“Any chance for the agreement to succeed hinges on stringent verification that Tehran is following the terms. Anything short of that would invite the Iranians to exploit this agreement to their own nefarious strategic advantage,” they stated. “We cannot ever forget Iran’s penchant for dissembling and obfuscation of international inspections, which certainly suggests difficulty ahead.”
The Iranian regime has “spent decades deceiving the world about its nuclear program and about its global proxy terror attacks,” the B’nai B’rith leaders said. “It has also spent this nearly half-century proclaiming, ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel.’ With history as our guide, we know any agreement with Iran must be actively and intensely monitored.”
The B’nai B’rith leaders also questioned where the agreement protects Israel’s “vital security interests.”
“We are concerned the 60 days of negotiations outlined in this initial agreement will merely serve to embolden Iran to re-arm and plan new attacks via its Hezbollah proxy against Israel,” they stated. “Israel must always have the right to defend itself. Full stop.”
Open article →GDELTTexas
Goldstein: 4.0Tone: -2.1
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: After signing peace deal, Trump says Iran would've ‘100%’ used nuclear weapons
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: Leaders of Iran and the US have signed a memorandum of agreement, an interim document to end the Middle East war, moderator Pakistani has confirmed. 'It shall enter into force with immediate effect", Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.
- 6 Mins agoWhat is inside the peace deal?
- 8 Mins agoMoU signed. What next?
- 14 Mins agoTrump says war risked 'catastrophe'
- 25 Mins agoTrump says Iran was ‘100%’ on its way to use nuclear weapons
- 35 Mins ago11 Iranian vessels pass through Hormuz since MoU finalisation, says Iranian state media
- 39 Mins agoLNG tanker heads toward Hormuz as US-Iran pact goes into effect
- 46 Mins agoOil slips again as US, Iran sign peace deal
- 52 Mins agoInside the 14-point draft agreement
- 57 Mins agoTop Democrats demand Rubio brief US Congress on Iran peace deal
- 59 Mins agoWhat White House said
- 1 Hr agoTrump's first words after signing the document
- 1 Hr 1 Mins agoUS official says US and Iran presidents have signed agreement
- 1 Hr 10 Mins agoFirst visuals of Trump signing MoU emerge
- 1 Hr 14 Mins agoModerator Pakistan says deal ‘into force with immediate effect’
- 1 Hr 20 Mins agoUS, Iran leaders sign interim doc to end Middle East war
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: Leaders of Iran and the US have signed a memorandum of understanding, an interim document to end the Middle East war, moderator Pakistan has confirmed. 'It shall enter into force with immediate effect", Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said. Sharif said Pakistan and co-mediator Qatar will still host an official signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland. His statement came shortly after Trump said he’d signed the agreement during a dinner at the Palace of Versailles....Read More
Trump says Iran would have used nuclear weapons
Trump claimed that Iran was all prepared to use nuclear weapons, but the US stopped it. "Iran would have 100% used a nuclear weapon, they were on the way; We went in to put out the fire," Trump said on the sidelines of G7 summit in Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron shared first visuals of US President Donald Trump signing the MoU to end Iran war during a dinner at the Palace of Versailles in Paris. “This agreement paves the way for lasting peace and allows the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. It is an important step in the right direction for our compatriots that will soon enable a decrease in energy prices,” Macron wrote on X.
What is inside the agreement?
The agreement calls for Tehran to, at a minimum, dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and would waive but not permanently end sanctions on the country, the Associated Press reported, citing US officials.
The agreement would also open the Strait of Hormuz toll-free for two months and affirm a commitment to Lebanon’s territorial integrity in the face of Israel’s invasion against the Hezbollah militant group.
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: What is inside the peace deal?
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: Much of the agreement would restore the status quo before the war, including ending hostilities, restarting talks between the US and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial passage for the world's oil and natural gas whose closure created a historic energy crisis.
The agreement opens the strait without tolls for two months, but does not preclude fees in the future, according to the drafts from both countries.
In return, the US will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran.
The deal also affirms a commitment to Lebanon's territorial integrity in the face of Israel's invasion against the Hezbollah militant group.
That is one of the most delicate parts of the agreement because Israel has maintained it will continue to defend itself and to occupy vast swaths of Lebanon.
Iran has said Israel must withdraw under the deal, a condition Israel has already rejected.
via AP
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: MoU signed. What next?
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the MoU to end months of conflict in the Middle East. What happens next? Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan and co-mediator Qatar will still host an official signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland, following which talks are likely to begin.
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: Trump says war risked 'catastrophe'
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the interim deal with Iran at a G7 summit in France, saying a prolonged war in the Middle East could have caused an economic catastrophe.
"I didn't want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened," Trump told reporters in the lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains.
The Republican president said he did not want to be like Herbert Hoover, who was U.S. president in October 1929 when the stock market crashed, triggering what became known as the Great Depression.
"All I know is every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship," Trump said. "Every time we said something negative, like, guess what, we're not going to be able to settle, it would go down very big."
via Reuters
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: Trump says Iran was ‘100%’ on its way to use nuclear weapons
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran was all prepared to use nuclear weapons, but the US stopped it. "Iran would have 100% used a nuclear weapon, they were on the way; We went in to put out the fire," Trump said on the sidelines of G7 summit in Paris.
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: 11 Iranian vessels pass through Hormuz since MoU finalisation, says Iranian state media
US Iran Deal LIVE Updates: Eleven Iranian ships have so far passed through the Hormuz strait, Iran's Press TV reported, citing sources. The report said that 8 vessels sailed through international waters from Iran’s territorial waters, and 3 others entered Iranian waters shortly the naval blockade was lifted and leaders of US and Iran signed the MoU.
Iran war LIVE: LNG tanker heads toward Hormuz as US-Iran pact goes into effect
Iran war LIVE: A liquefied natural gas tanker that loaded in Qatar is nearing the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reported. This comes hours after US and Iran leaders signed the MoU to end the 3-month-long war in Middle East that upended the energy market.
The Mraikh, which picked up a shipment earlier this month, is heading toward the chokepoint after being stuck in the Persian Gulf since February, according to ship-tracking data. The vessel, which is chartered by QatarEnergy, is signaling Pakistan’s Port Qasim as its next location.
Qatar is aiming to restore most of its export capacity within two months of Hormuz reopening, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. That will require securing vessels to lift shipments — although no empty LNG tanker has sailed into the Persian Gulf since the conflict began in late February.
Iran war LIVE: Oil slips again as US, Iran sign peace deal
Iran war LIVE: Oil prices fell in early trading on Thursday after the U.S. and Iran signed an interim agreement that would end the Iran war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and waive U.S. sanctions on Tehran's oil, resolving the largest energy supply disruption in history.
Brent crude futures were down 89 cents, or 1.12%, at $78.66 a barrel as of 0005 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 98 cents, or 1.28%, to $75.81 a barrel.
The benchmarks resumed their decline, reversing gains made on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he could resume his bombing campaign if Iran's leaders "don't behave".
"The sell-off extended as energy markets continued to aggressively price in a faster-than-expected return of Iranian barrels following the recent U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note.
via Reuters
Iran
Open article →NBCUnited States
Goldstein: 0.0Tone: -14.3CAMEO 01
TEL AVIV — The Israeli government was not shown the memorandum of understanding drafted to end the war with Iran, an Israeli government official told NBC News on Wednesday, the latest sign of growing tension between the United States and Israel.
Shortly after President Donald Trump said he had given a copy of the MOU to Israel, the same source said Israel still had not seen the draft. The source would not comment on whether Israeli diplomats had asked for the text and were denied it.
The Israeli government’s absence in the negotiations leading up to the MOU has become a perilous hindrance for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces career-defining elections before the end of October. The deal framework was provided to NBC News by a senior U.S. official later on Wednesday.
The Israeli public’s reckoning with Netanyahu’s performance has also collided with an increasingly impatient Trump, whose invective against the prime minister over the past several days has shaken an increasingly isolated Israel.
“Without me, there would be no Israel,” Trump told the G7 summit Tuesday, calling Netanyahu “crazy” and using an expletive to describe his poor judgment. But Trump took particular issue with Netanyahu’s continuing attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 1 million have been driven from their homes and more than 3,500 people have died, derailing talks with Iran in the past.
Trump openly criticized seemingly indiscriminate Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
“Too many people have been killed,” Trump said at the G7 conference summit in France. “You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu has not publicly addressed Trump’s comments about him.
With Iran and the U.S. scheduled to sign a draft agreement on Friday, Netanyahu is also feeling the heat from the Israeli public.
The country went to war against Iran alongside the U.S. in late February, and its population endured weeks of Iranian counterattacks from ballistic missiles and drones.
Netanyahu’s government has been criticized for not going far enough to hobble Iran, an adversary many see as posing an existential threat, and its main proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a survey from the Israeli Democracy Institute published two weeks ago, 57.5% of Israelis said they believe ending the conflict under the currently discussed framework would not be compatible with Israel’s security interests.
Netanyahu’s domestic rivals have lashed out at the prime minister.
“Israel is paying the price of Netanyahu’s hubris and blindness, and the price of the manipulations that he tried to pull on Trump,” former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview Monday. “Iran emerged stronger; Israel emerged weaker. That is Netanyahu’s strategic responsibility. He failed.”
The deal framework is “one of the most shocking failures in Israel’s foreign and security policy ... entirely registered in Netanyahu’s name,” said Yair Lapid, who is expected to challenge Netanyahu in this year’s elections.
“It can be fixed, it must be fixed,” he wrote. “Netanyahu can no longer fix it, we will do it.”
In a speech on Monday night, Netanyahu defended the necessity of the war with Iran but acknowledged that he had not reviewed the draft agreement.
“We removed, for years to come, this danger hanging over us of the elimination of Israel’s population. That is what we did. We saved the state of Israel from annihilation,” Netanyahu said, again calling the Iranian nuclear threat an “immediate danger.”
Answering questions from reporters, Netanyahu brushed off suggestions that his relationship with Trump had deteriorated.
“Many times we see eye to eye, and there are also cases in which we see less eye to eye,” Netanyahu said Monday.
He also repeatedly answered to the growing criticism from both his opponents and allies that he is not standing up to Trump enough.
“I am responsible for Israel’s security interests. I stand up for them,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Israel will take part in future negotiations, which the Iranians said will begin in Geneva on the day the deal is signed.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said Tuesday that Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon and its presence in the country violated the MOU.
Though Israel’s northern border has been mostly quiet since Trump announced the deal on Sunday night, fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militia group Hezbollah has continued in southern Lebanon.
Open article →