Pakistan’s Prime Minister says the US and Iran have reached a peace deal that includes Lebanon
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The United States and Iran have reached an agreement to end their war, US President Donald Trump and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday.
“The deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is over,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform around 5:30 pm ET in Washington on Sunday, shortly after Sharif announced the deal early Monday morning local time in Pakistan, which acted as a mediator.
The exact terms of the deal were not immediately known. Sharif said the deal calls for an “immediate and permanent end to military operations in all sectors, including Lebanon.”
Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, a key international energy transit route that Iran has blocked for months, would be opened “free” and that the blockade of US ships in Iranian ports would also end.
“Ships of the Earth, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” Trump wrote.
After extensive negotiations, we are pleased to announce that the Peace Agreement between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been ACHIEVED. Both sides announced an immediate and permanent end to military operations in all sectors, including…
-CMShehbaz
The agreement will be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland, Sharif wrote.
Multiple sources previously told Reuters that the draft agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the US blockade of Iranian ports and extend the ceasefire while leaving Iran’s nuclear program to be negotiated during a 60-day period of further negotiations.
Thousands of people have been killed, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since US and Israeli forces began attacking Iran in Feb. 28. Iran has hit Israel and Gulf states that host US bases and has successfully blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, raising global energy prices. The US military blockaded Iranian ports in response.
US President Donald Trump and officials in Tehran suggest a peace deal is close, but nothing has been signed. After several other promising announcements went nowhere, Iranians are still skeptical. CBC News reports from inside Iran.
Israel said it was not participating in the planned US-Iran deal.
The Iran war has become a political issue at home for Trump and other Republicans in Congress, and public opinion polls show Americans are increasingly frustrated by rising gas prices ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Attack on Israel
The deal was sealed despite an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Sunday that drew criticism from Iran and Trump.
Earlier on Sunday, the Iranian negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on the social media site X said that the recent Israeli attack on the area south of Beirut, which Israel said was aimed at Hezbollah terrorists supported by Iran, shows that the US does not have “the will and the ability to fulfill its obligations.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it blamed the US for the attack. Iran warned of a “strong response,” and its joint military command said “the finger [is] on the trigger” is ready to shoot the “enemy’s heart.”
In his post on the social media platform Truth Social earlier Sunday, Trump said: “The early morning attack in Beirut should not have happened, especially on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clashed with Trump over US demands that Israel halt its military action in Lebanon in order for the United States to reach an agreement with Iran.
Fox News quoted an anonymous spokesperson who participated in the talks as saying that the Israeli strikes are making difficult efforts to finalize the US-Iran deal, calling them an attempt to undermine those efforts.
Israel did not respond to this assertion. Israel has said it will maintain freedom of action in Lebanon, while Iran has made a complete freeze there a key part of its demands.
Trump updated Netanyahu on progress in the peace deal during a phone call on Sunday, Israel’s N12 reported, citing a senior official.
Terms of the deal
A senior Iranian official previously told Reuters that, under the terms of the draft deal, the United States would agree to release $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets, while Iran would agree not to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. The official said Iran agreed to maintain the current nuclear status quo, including not enriching uranium or expanding nuclear sites, until a final deal is reached.
A US official, speaking ahead of the deal’s announcement, said the deal would ultimately lead to the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, and the destruction and removal of a large amount of highly enriched uranium. A senior Iranian official said the draft deal would allow Iran, which denies it wants a nuclear bomb, to dilute its enriched uranium in the country.
Qatari negotiators flew to Tehran on Sunday morning as part of efforts to finalize the deal, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
At pro-government rallies across Iran on Saturday night, citizens and news organizations reported that activists opposed to the framework agreement voiced their discontent.
A resident of the northeastern city of Mashhad told Reuters that some protesters chanted, “Death to the compromiser,” apparently in reference to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
