By AP and published by Yahoo!News
ISLAMABAD: The United States and Iran have reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the global economy more than three months since fighting began.
Details of the deal were not immediately available and Iran signalled implementation would not start until the signing, which key mediator Pakistan said would occur on Friday in Switzerland. Iran said the text would be published after that. Key issues like Iran’s nuclear programme are expected to be addressed later.
But even as it became clear the parties still have days to influence what lies ahead, the announcements had an air of relief.
“Congratulations to all!” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media, adding: “I hereby fully authorise the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorise the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade,” imposed in retaliation for Iran’s grip on the crucial waterway.
He soon hedged, however, saying the strait wouldn’t open until Friday’s signing. The US previously said it would ease its blockade of Iranian ports as the strait reopens, and would agree to relax sanctions to allow Iran to sell more of its oil and strengthen its battered economy.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was signed on Friday. He said the deal followed talks with Qatar, another mediator.
Qatari mediators later left Tehran following 17 hours of negotiations, said an official briefed on the developments who spoke on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the talks. Separate preparatory meetings with each side will take place in Doha this week, the official said.
After months of fighting, a ‘critical step’ is taken to end the war
“This represents a critical step towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” the spokesperson for the United Nations secretary-general said of the deal and framework for further negotiations.
Pakistan first announced the deal after a day in which Israel, sidelined from the negotiations, attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs while pursuing the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Iran’s deputy foreign minister hinted at the tensions that caused, saying “our armed forces were fully prepared to give a decisive response to Israel’s actions.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said “both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” adding that mediators this week will facilitate meetings to “lay the foundation for the technical talks.”
Iranian state TV later cited the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council saying the war on all fronts “will end immediately and permanently beginning tonight” — but that the US blockade “will be terminated immediately and in full.”
It was not clear who from Iran would sign the deal on Friday. US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News the White House was still figuring out who would attend: “I certainly plan to be there, but it’s possible the president himself could be there.”
The deal came under criticism even in the final hours
Broader negotiations on outstanding issues like Iran’s nuclear programme would continue over the next 60 days, two senior Pakistani officials said earlier Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly. If the sides fail to reach a resolution within that time, the timeline could be extended.
The deal likely returns the region to a status that existed before the war, but with thousands of people dead and Iran wielding a new source of negotiating pressure with its ability to influence shipping in the strait. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertiliser, and its effective closure rocked the global economy.
Of the stated targets by the US and Israel when they launched the war on Feb. 28 with strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran still has a missile programme, support for armed proxies in the region like Hezbollah and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium for its nuclear programme.
Khamenei’s son is now supreme leader, though he has not been seen in the public since the war began. His approval was needed for Iran to sign off on the deal.
Iran wanted a ceasefire deal to include the fighting in Lebanon, where Israel has pushed its invasion deeper than at any point in over a quarter-century as it targets Hezbollah. Tehran also has sought the release of billions of dollars in frozen funds.
The emerging deal had been sharply criticised by Israel’s government and by critics in Trump’s own Republican Party. Some said it did not improve on the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew the US from during his first term and still describes as “bad.”
There was also apparent friction inside Iran in the hours before the announcement, as the government earlier Sunday warned that any division at home over the deal weakens its negotiating position. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged national unity and called it a “disgrace” when someone stands before parliament and calls anyone who negotiates a traitor.
The central question of Iran’s nuclear programme remains
After the war began, Iran attacked Israel and several Arab Gulf nations with missiles and drones. A ceasefire was reached on April 7. Ten days later, the US military imposed its blockade. A historic face-to-face meeting between Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf ended without success.
Throughout negotiations, Trump alternatively threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure, even its civilization, and praised the relationship with Iran as “more professional” as his administration sought an exit from the war with midterm US elections coming later this year.
Iran’s government, with its own tensions around hard-liners as it scrambled to replace several top officials killed in the war, repeatedly expressed wariness of negotiations after rounds of talks last year and early this year ended with US and Israeli attacks.
Tehran has emphasised that it wanted a deal to focus on ending the war, with discussions put off until later on its nuclear programme — the issue at the centre of it all.
Iran has 440.9 kilogrammes (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by US strikes last year.
At times, the US had sought the removal of the enriched uranium from Iran as part of a deal. Russia has offered to take it. At other times, Trump said he wanted the uranium destroyed.
CAPTIONS:
Top – In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency on June 1, 2026, vessels sail at Suru Beach in Bandar Abbas along the Strait of Hormuz. Photo: ISNA/AFP/AMIRHOSSEIN KHORGOOEI and published by CNA
First insert – US President Donald Trump. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP /picture alliance and published by Dw.com
Second insert – A woman waves an Iranian flag as she chants slogans against Iran and US talks at Islamic Revolution square in Tehran on Sunday. Photo – Vahid Salemi / Associated Press and published by Yahoo!News
Third insert – Map of Strait of Hormuz. Credit – CNA
Front Page – US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US on June 11, 2026. File photo: Reuters/Daniel Heuer published by Abc.net.au
Also read:
HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha has passed away
Bhutan King lights 1,000 lamps in mourning passing of HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha
MP opposes new draft law blocking under-15s from Muay Thai
Analysis: From Pride month to Pride economy – economic opportunities for Thailand
Ex-deputy House speaker politically banned for life due to illegal forest land grab
Parolee-turned-free Thaksin leaving for Dubai
NACC, EC asked to probe ‘Do help the Blue’ scandals
Administrative Court asked to rule over govt’s 18.8 billion baht add-on budget for the poor
Ad hoc panel sought to probe NACC’s failure over Saksayam’s asset concealment case
Veteran US journalist laments the Lost Horizons of Asia and America
