Capitulation

Trump says Iran and US have reached deal to stop war

The agreement reopens the Strait of Hormuz, but other details are unknown.

By Diana Nerozzi and Aaron Pellish

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. and Iran have reached a deal after nearly four months of ongoing hostilities.

The deal includes a provision that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and end blockades that have caused turmoil in the global economy.

“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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!”

It’s not yet clear whether the deal includes an agreement by the Iranians to abandon their nuclear program and allow its enriched uranium to be removed from the country, as Trump has demanded.

Top Iranian officials have not yet commented publicly on the deal. But Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has helped mediate talks, also said a deal was reached and there will be an official signing ceremony in Switzerland on Friday.

Trump, in a later Truth Social post, also confirmed the signing ceremony would be held Friday.

“With the opening of the Strait upon the signing of the Deal on Friday, for purposes of mine removal, oil will flow on both ends again for the Region, and the World!” Trump wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry on the details of the deal.

Trump had teased an agreement on Thursday, when he called off previously announced plans to strike Iran “very hard” as a deal framework came into focus.

But tensions between the U.S. and Iran persisted into Friday after Trump accused Iranian leaders of leaking inaccurate terms of the proposed agreement and called them “very dishonorable people to deal with.”

The terms of the purported leak, published by an Iranian state-run news outlet, claimed Iran would have kept control of the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. would have withdrawn military personnel and relinquished billions in Iranian assets.

Oil prices fell following Trump’s announcement of an approaching agreement. But even with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, energy prices may not revert back to pre-war levels of below $70 a barrel for months, as it could take several months, if not a complete year, to restore oil and gas fields in the Middle East that Iranian missiles and drones damaged or destroyed, to clear mines from Hormuz itself and to see tankers leave the strait to finally reach their destinations.

“Once a deal is signed, the next question is: Where are Iran’s naval mines?” said Pavel Molchanov, analyst at investment bank Raymond James. “Iranian authorities themselves don’t know, because mines can float away from where they were originally placed. There are portions of Hormuz that are already safe for passage, but for a full recovery of shipping traffic, the mine issue will need to be addressed.”

The back-and-forth over a deal and the broader whiplash between aggressive posturing and ceasefire negotiation breakthroughs has epitomized the U.S.-Iran war to date. Both countries first agreed to a ceasefire in early April, but both sides have launched multiple strikes in the region since.

Even in the days leading up to Sunday’s deal, the tensions continued. The U.S. attacked Iranian military sites as recently as Wednesday. U.S. Central Command said the attack was a response to an Iranian strike that downed a U.S. helicopter.