The United States and Iran have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a peace deal to end the war that was triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran in March. While the terms of the deal will be negotiated over months, the US has already lifted its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
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TRANSCRIPT
A major moment in Versailles - two days ahead of schedule. US President Donald Trump signs on the dotted line, flanked by the French President and others, offering a round of applause.
President Trump's signature to a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, signalling a formal end to a conflict that has had major global impacts since the US and Israel launched attacks on Tehran earlier this year.
“And this meeting could not have come at a better time. On Sunday we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish - everything and much more; ending the current conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
Iran's own president was a notable absence in France, after declining an invitation and opting instead to give a virtual signature.
Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, says Iran didn't think it was appropriate to hold a ceremony for the signing.
"A meeting was scheduled in Switzerland for the official signing of the text by the two sides. Over the past 24 hours we reviewed this further and ultimately we concluded that it was a better idea that the text was signed by the presidents of both countries without physically attending a particular place.”
Pakistan - which moderated the deal - has confirmed it has taken immediate effect.
And the official 60-day negotiating period has begun.
Technical talks on the deal are scheduled to begin this weekend, if the Iranian team can get there.
But what happens next- including the potential of a new fee for passage through the Strait - will be the result of talks in the coming months.
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, has laid out the White House objectives in stark terms:
“If underneath the timeline of these talks, Iran does not do what it says it's going to do. Just give up nuclear weapons, give up nuclear ambitions, give away their nuclear material, close nuclear facilities. Then the War Department is here and prepared to restart if we need to.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, is celebrating the US lifting its blockade of Iran’s ports.
Under the terms of the MoU, ships can now pass through the major trading passage.
We will continue to work, but in any case this is a moment of peace and good news for many of our compatriots, because normally fuel prices will also fall, as will the price of gas.”
But as the US and its allies voice support of the deal, Iran's Supreme Leader has described it as "desperate".
Mojtaba Khamenei spoke on Iranian media channels, saying Iranian officials made a deal out of "sincere concern and goodwill" but says the "American president out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage" to bring it about.
An Iranian state TV presenter gave this update.
“Under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, no fees will be collected from applicants for 60 days, and these costs will be covered by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The statement said that given the special circumstances and the existence of some safety risks along the route, and in order to ensure safe passage and prevent maritime incidents, ships must pass through the route and at a time announced to them, so that traffic can gradually increase.”
The US and EU have already confirmed they will lift some sanctions on Iran.
Huma Baqai, a foreign affairs expert from Pakistan's Millenium Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship, says Iran has emerged from the conflict with bargaining chips it didn't have before.
“ Iran never expected that it could be in a position where it will be actually negotiating on removal of sanctions and release of assets. This war has given Iran that space. And at the end of the day this was an uncalled war. This was an unprovoked war. This was a war inflicted on Iran. And thus I think rebuilding Iran is the responsibility of those who inflicted it.” ]]
The humanitarian cost of the conflict has been severe and Lebanon has borne the brunt.
Iranian backed Hezbollah fighters' response to the first attacks by Israel and the US was to launch strikes on Israel in March - a move Israel said justified a military operation in Lebanon.
Israel's ongoing ground and air attacks in the country's south have since killed almost 4 thousand people [[3,798 by 17/06]] , according to the Lebanese health ministry.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced.
One of them is Mohammed Hashem, who is returning home after being forced to flee Sidon with his family.
“I’m scared of the energy I'm going to feel as soon as I see the destruction in the village. Don't think that because I'm going to the village and that I'm somehow happy about it, because if my own house is okay, I'm heartbroken over the other houses in the village whose features have disappeared, the ones that are gone. Almost all of the village's heritage is gone. I mean, almost everything we used to dream of is gone. So honestly, I don't feel happy.”
The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund says more than 240 children have been killed and almost one-thousand wounded in that time, with hundreds of thousands more affected by displacement, insecurity and disruptions to essential services.
Lebanon's social affairs minister Haneen Sayed says humanitarian needs are significant, as Lebanon plans for recovery, the return of communities and long-term stability.
“We are grateful for the support that Qatar, France, and the United Kingdom have provided throughout this crisis. Your assistance has helped families, supported humanitarian operations, and reinforced Lebanon’s capacity to respond. But perhaps most importantly, your presence today sends a message of solidarity and partnership. The Lebanese people deserve peace. They deserve to return safely to their homes, rebuild their communities and look to the future with confidence and hope.”
But the deal's longevity is in doubt.
The ceasefire relies on an end to all military operations, on all fronts, including Israel's attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed troops won't leave Lebanon while Hezbollah presents a threat to Israel, as he hailed what he called Israel's "tremendous accomplishments against the axis of evil of Iran and its proxies."
"True, the struggle has not yet ended, and additional challenges still lie ahead of us. And these require from us cool-headedness, firm standing on our security interests, and at the same time preserving the important connection with our American friends who fought alongside us shoulder to shoulder, and we appreciate this very much.”
US Vice President JD Vance says the US wants the Lebanese government to police the south of its country, rather than the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The US VP has also given a pointed response to critics of the deal from within the Netanyahu Government.
“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. And the second message I would give to some of those cabinet members, Bibi, to his credit, has not gone down this path, but to some of these cabinet members in Israel who are attacking the president of the United States, the other thing that I would say is that over the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.”
Gobal inflation has jumped off the back of a surge in oil prices as a result of the conflict, squeezing American households as the Trump Administration spent billions of dollars on its military.
Much criticism of the war and the subsequent peace deal has come from within the U-S - and within the ranks of Donald Trump's own party.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy wrote on social media platform X that this has been "the worst foreign policy blunder in decades."
Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer was similarly scathing, in an address to US Congress.
“Everyone who bought Trump's book, The Art of the Deal, ought to ask him for a refund because what Trump has done in Iran is the art of the disaster. The US is worse off because of Trump's incompetence, his ego, his inability to listen to facts. Iran took Trump to the cleaners with his so-called understanding.”
The American public's feelings about the White House actions in the Middle East will likely be revealed at the midterm elections in November.
