Pakistan mediates preliminary deal to end US-Iran conflict amid tensions

How the deal will be phased in: What happens when

• Pakistan’s Prime ​Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a post Sunday on X that both sides had declared an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.
• Mediators will continue meeting this week ahead of an official signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the memorandum would then be published.
• Iran and the US have ​both said the ‌Strait of Hormuz would start to reopen and the US blockade on Iranian ports start to lift as soon as the ⁠memorandum is signed.
• Both sides have said negotiations on more difficult further areas of dispute – notably Iran’s nuclear ambitions and US sanctions on Iran – will be conducted over the following 60 days.

Reopening the Strait of Hormuz

• US President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened on Friday and that he had ordered ⁠a lifting of the blockade on Iranian ports. That would leave the US and Iran more or less where they were before Israel and the US launched their war on Iran, which has left thousands dead across the region.
• The two sides will then hold 60 days of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and the potential lifting of sanctions, Pakistani officials told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because the text remains confidential.
• A senior Iranian official said the strait would be reopened “to all commercial vessels” once the memorandum was signed.
• Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that under the memorandum, marine traffic through the strait would be regulated by Iran in coordination ​with Oman.

Iran’s nuclear programme

• Both sides have said that Iran once again agrees not to produce nor acquire nuclear ‌weapons. Tehran has made this promise repeatedly for decades, insisting its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.
• The senior Iranian official said Iran would freeze its nuclear activity, refraining from further uranium enrichment or the expansion of nuclear facilities, pending a final agreement.
• The senior Iranian official said the US had agreed that Iran could dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium inside Iran under a ‌future comprehensive agreement.
• Trump said on Saturday there was no urgency to remove Iran’s stockpile of nuclear material, as he has threatened to do by force, saying the US would retrieve it “when all is calm”.
• Trump said there would be a strong inspections ​regime for Iran under any deal but he did not give specifics.
• US Senator Lindsey Graham said any final deal on Iran’s nuclear programme would have to be reviewed and approved by Congress.

Sanctions and financial impact

• A senior Iranian official said the US had agreed not to impose any new sanctions ​on Iran until a final deal was reached.
• They added the US would waive oil sanctions on Iran for a specified period and that after the ​final agreement all US and UN sanctions would be lifted to an agreed timetable.
• The senior Iranian official ​said the US had agreed to release $25 billion of Iran’s frozen assets – including via direct cash transfers, cooperation among regional countries and financial credit lines.
• Washington, in coordination with its regional allies, would prepare a reconstruction and development plan ​for Iran, to be negotiated and agreed with Tehran within 60 days, the official said.
• Trump said Iran would not be provided with cash but that sanctions could potentially be lifted.

Lebanon

• Sharif said the immediate and permanent end of all military operations would include Lebanon.
• The Secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said military operations would stop permanently on Monday night, including in Lebanon.
• Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said Monday the Israeli military would remain “indefinitely” in areas it captured in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip and that ⁠Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made ​this clear to Trump.
• Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there must be a complete halt to Israeli attacks against Lebanon and that ⁠the US bears responsibility for implementing the framework deal.
• Before the memorandum was announced, Trump said he would bring peace to the region, including Lebanon. He said there should be no more Israeli attacks on Lebanon and no more attacks by the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah on Israel.