The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who leads the country’s negotiating team, and the U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, have already signed the memorandum of understanding intended to put an end to the Gulf War, a US official said on Monday.
There was no immediate response from Tehran to the report that the agreement, which both sides announced overnight, had already been signed. Previous reports from both sides had suggested it would be signed officially at a ceremony in Geneva on Friday, as per a report by Reuters.
The US official said Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was not a condition of the deal. “The deal is a ceasefire, and it will not be a one-way ceasefire, meaning that if Iran is not able to control Hezbollah, and if they attack Israeli positions or Israeli towns, Israel will have the right to defend themselves and respond,” Reuters reported the US official as saying.
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Speaking in France with President Emmanuel Macron, Trump claimed that “the deal’s all signed” and that the Strait of Hormuz has been partially reopened. The waterway will reopen “completely” on Friday when the agreement is signed in Switzerland.
After more than 100 days of conflict, Iran and the US have agreed to stop hostilities, paving the way for in-depth talks on Iran’s nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions.
After U.S. officials digitally signed the agreement with Iran on Sunday, Vice President JD Vance stated on Monday morning that the Trump administration anticipates releasing the entire text of the agreement later this week.
Regarding the agreement to lift the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Vance stated on “Good Morning America” that “we already signed the deal digitally yesterday.” Vance did not say who would make up the American delegation, but a formal signing ceremony is scheduled on Friday in Switzerland, according to a report by Politico.
Apart from the opening of the strait, which Trump celebrated in a Truth Social post on Sunday afternoon, saying, “Ships of the World, start your engines,” there are still few details on the agreement. “Let the oil flow!”
Vance also alluded to how the United States will try to prevent Iran from developing or acquiring a nuclear bomb, something Trump has long sought to achieve, during a series of interviews on Monday.
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“We’re willing to welcome the Iranians into the global economy to lift some sanctions and to turn over a new leaf in that relationship if they are willing to give a long-term commitment – along with proper verification – to giving up that nuclear weapon,” Vance stated on “Good Morning America.”
The agreement was announced on Sunday by Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, whose country has been mediating.
Despite criticism from Israeli leaders, he claimed that both parties had announced “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” where Israel and the Iran-backed organisation Hezbollah had been engaged in combat.
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