U.S. and Iran Agree to 60-Day Ceasefire Deal to End Hormuz Crisis
The U.S. and Iran have completed a long-awaited agreement to bring an end to the Strait of Hormuz standoff and restart traffic. The new 60-day ceasefire deal was delayed at the last minute after an Israeli strike on Beirut prompted Iran to suspend a much-anticipated signing on Sunday and prepare a counterstrike on Israeli territory instead; the White House offered additional concessions to Iran to ward off that strike, according to Iranian sources, and the deal was done.
"The armed forces were prepared to carry out a decisive response. This contributed to the completion of the agreement's wording and advanced several issues that had remained unresolved in the negotiations," said Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi in a statement.
It will be signed next Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, with (likely) U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in attendance. Vance said Sunday that President Donald Trump could also attend.
The White House announced that the agreement will immediately suspend both Strait of Hormuz blockades on signing next Friday - a new concession, according to Iranian sources. Iran's media suggest that the initial deal called for a phase-out of the U.S. blockade over 60 days, stepwise in accordance with Iranian compliance. To get the deal across the line on Sunday and forestall an Iranian attack on Israel, the White House agreed to suspend the blockade right away, according to Fars - providing the regime fast access to new revenue from oil export sales.
The White House has not released other details of the agreement, and the Iranian description of its contents cannot be easily verified, but the general outline appears to contain many of Iran's demands. The hardline IRGC is now firmly in charge in Tehran; in its account of the details, the agreement would give Iran access to $25 billion in its own frozen overseas funds, suspend US sanctions on Iran's oil sales, and allow Iran to rebuild its ballistic missile stockpile. It reportedly allows Iran to keep its high-enriched uranium and down-blend it locally to lower concentrations - contrary to initial U.S. insistence that the HEU be removed to the United States - and, further, leaves the details of that program for 60 days of further debate.
The Trump administration insists that Iran will not get "cash" from the deal, and that Iran will pledge not to develop a nuclear weapon (a longstanding Iranian promise that predates the current conflict).
Early glimpses have not been received well in Israel, where commentators suggest it will provide economic concessions for Iran without meaningfully curtailing Iranian military capabilities.
"The Americans give the Iranians plenty — and get nothing in return. The most absurd thing is that this war ends with sanctions relief for oil sales. Something that didn't exist before the war," said i24 commentator Amichai Stein. "What do the Americans get? Nothing. No nuclear, no ballistic, no proxy," meaning no limits on Iran's nuclear program, ballistic missile inventory or proxy groups (Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iraq's Shiite militias).
Iran's Mehr News quickly claimed that the deal would provide Iran with $12 billion in frozen funds up front, before the start of the next 60 days of negotiations. White House officials have quietly told CBS that this is incorrect and that the deal contains pay-for-performance clauses: Iran will only receive billions of dollars in frozen funds once it demonstrates that it is keeping its end of the bargain - not before, as Iranian state media suggested.
"Many presidents have tried to make peace with Iran, and all have failed before me. The leaders of the region have, for the first time, found a president who can help them achieve real peace," said President Donald Trump in a social media statement late Sunday. "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!"
Last-minute Israeli strikes endangered impending deal
Hope appeared to ebb early Sunday after Israeli forces conducted a large-scale counterstrike on Beirut, responding to missile attacks by Hezbollah. Iran's IRGC signaled that it would launch retaliatory strikes on Israel imminently.
"This is a clear attempt by Israel to sabotage the president’s deal and drag the United States back into war," a diplomat close to the talks told Fox News.
President Donald Trump disapproved of the Israeli strike operation. "It is so bad — I couldn't believe it. An hour before we are supposed to sign the deal," Trump told Axios' Barak Ravid. "Why did [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] have to do a ____ attack? I was so pissed off. I let him know. He has no ____ judgement. I let him know that."
Iran reacted to the strike on Beirut - home of its Lebanese proxy force, the terrorist organization Hezbollah - with announcement of a counterattack.
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"The Zionist aggression on Dahiya [southern Beirut] has once again shown that America either does not have the will or the ability to fulfill its obligations," said Iran's top negotiator, speaker of the parliament Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. "If you do not have the will and ability to fulfill your obligations, it is not possible to talk about continuing on the path."
Multiple analysts and Israeli officials have noted that the terms of the deal - as leaked by Iran and the U.S. - might not be in Israel's best interests. "Nobody is happy with this. We understand it is not good for us, and that it harms Israeli interests. What is troubling is that Israel cannot influence it," one senior Israeli official told reporter Shaiel Ben-Ephraim. "Iran has smelled that it can achieve things by force, and it will use that against its neighbors and against us."