Illustration – Oil prices tumble after Trump announces deal with Iran. and stock prices surged
Iran has not yet officially confirmed the cease-fire agreement, but its state broadcaster took a triumphal tone, declaring that “the United States was forced to accept an end to the war.”
Here’s the latest.
The United States and Iran reached a cease-fire agreement on Sunday, President Trump said, paving the way for further talks that could ultimately end a monthslong war that has killed thousands and rattled the global economy.
“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!” he said in a post on social media.
Iran
Iran , which refused to confirm that the agreement will be finalized today waited until the clock passed midnight local time to finalize the agreement, because it did not want the momentous occasion to coincide with President Trump’s birthday on Sunday, according to two Iranian officials who could not be identified because of the matter’s sensitivity. The seven-and-half-hour time difference allowed both Tehran and Washington to claim their preferred version of when the deal was finalized. President Trump had said it would be on Sunday, and Iran had said it would be on a later day.
Israel
There has been no official word from Israel on the agreement to end hostilities with Iran that President Trump announced on Sunday. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, had said it would end all military activity, including in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Trump had earlier warned Israel and Hezbollah to exercise restraint so as not to derail the deal after Israel struck a Hezbollah stronghold near the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Sunday. He did not mention Israel or Lebanon in his initial post announcing an agreement.
Israeli news media reported late on Sunday, shortly before the deal was announced, that Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had spoken on the phone. Israel has not been a party to the talks, and Israelis across the political spectrum have been concerned and critical of the agreement between the United States and Iran.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said that Iran and the United States plan to formally sign the agreement on Friday in Geneva, confirming a timeline laid out by Pakistan, a key mediator in talks.
Speaking to state television shortly after President Trump’s announcement, Mr. Gharibabadi said last-minute negotiations mediated by Qatar lasted about 15 hours and revisions to the text were approved by both sides. He said two important steps would happen immediately: the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade against Iran and the ending of the conflict on all fronts, including Lebanon. He added that Iran’s commitments to the agreement would officially start on Friday.
Oil prices tumble after Trump announces deal with Iran.
Oil prices fell and stocks rose on Sunday after President Trump said the United States had reached a deal with Iran that would allow the “toll free” passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
His social media post capped weeks of fraught negotiations between the countries that seemed at times to be making little progress. A key mediator in the peace talks, the prime minister of Pakistan, said the agreement covered Lebanon and that a signing ceremony was scheduled for Friday in Switzerland.
“Thank GOD!“
Many ordinary Iranians welcomed the news of a cease-fire agreement between Tehran and Washington and pave the way to negotiate for a permanent peace deal. For months, Iranians have been living in an anxious state of limbo with no peace, no war, and struggling with an economy in a tailspin. Minutes after President Trump announced the agreement, they flooded messaging apps with mixed emotions. “Thank GOD!“ wrote one Iranian, while another expressed disbelief, asking “Is this REAL?” Some appeared simply downtrodden, with one writing, “What did this war achieve?”
Israel – Hezbollah
The past half-day was critical and dramatic: The Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier on Sunday created concern that the peace negotiations could collapse if Iran and Israel resumed trading fire. That, in turn, accelerated the completion of the final text, according to two Israeli officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The agreement includes the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the immediate lifting of the U.S. naval blockade on Iran.
Ironically, the very move that endangered the deal — the bombing in Beirut, ordered by a man who opposes the agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — hastened its signing and improved it for Iran.
Iran – Israel
Iran called off a planned attack on Israel in retaliation for strikes on Beirut following intervention by President Trump urging restraint on Iran through intermediaries, according to three Iranian officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly. There were deliberations within Tehran’s power circles on whether or not Iran should respond to create deterrence or hold back, with some arguing that retaliating would be playing into Israel’s hands to derail a peace deal between Tehran and Washington.
In Israel, there is broad discontent over the emerging U.S. deal with Iran.
The main headline of Sunday’s Yediot Aharonot, a popular Hebrew daily, summed up in two words the prevailing sentiment in Israel over President Trump’s emerging cease-fire agreement with Iran: “Bad Deal.”
Israel waged two wars against Iran in the past year, the most recent one the campaign launched in late February with U.S. forces. Now Israel, which had not been a party to the Trump administration’s negotiations with Iran, is being left out of the potential peace.
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, condemned Israel’s strikes on Beirut on Sunday. In a statement, he said: “The strikes took place despite the cease-fire and at a time when the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran are expected to reach an agreement that will pave the way to a peaceful resolution of this conflict.” Guterres urged all parties to show maximum restraint at this critical time and said he “strongly hoped for a successful outcome” in peace talks between Tehran and Washington.
The New York Times
