DONALD TRUMP has signed the memorandum of understanding ending the war on Iran, as Iranian retaliation hammered global markets and dwindling stocks of interceptors and munitions sapped Washington and Tel Aviv’s ability to carry on.
Trump has moved to cut his losses and put his name to an agreement whose terms Tehran had, in large part, dictated.
The 14-point deal, signed electronically by Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and brokered by Pakistan, which declared the ‘Islamabad MoU’ in force with Qatar also mediating, is already in effect, the two presidents having put their names to it remotely.
Far shorter than the 2015 Obama nuclear accord Trump tore up in his first term, it leaves Iran’s nuclear programme standing.
Tehran commits only not to develop or acquire a nuclear weapon and will hold its programme at its present level until a final deal is struck, while Washington has abandoned the very aim it and Tel Aviv launched the war to achieve, the destruction of that programme outright.
Iran’s missile programme and its support for the region’s resistance fronts have been kept off the negotiating agenda altogether.
The US Treasury is to issue waivers for exports of Iranian crude, petroleum products and derivatives, along with the banking, insurance and transport around them, and Iranian exports are expected to resume within days.
Washington will lift its naval blockade in full within 30 days, with shipping restored to pre-war levels, and the Strait of Hormuz is to reopen within the same period, at a pace Tehran itself controls.
Under the final deal the United States is to scrap sanctions against Iran, from UN Security Council resolutions to its own unilateral primary and secondary measures, and the package is paired with a $300bn fund to rebuild the country.
The formal signing on Friday in Switzerland opens a 60-day window for direct negotiations on a final agreement, extendable by mutual consent, with the eventual deal to be locked in by a binding UN Security Council resolution.
In the meantime both sides are to hold the status quo, Washington imposing no new sanctions and sending no further forces to the region.
Pezeshkian called the understanding ‘an important step towards stopping the war and beginning negotiations’, while making clear that Iran remained ready ‘for all options’ as the process went on.
On its face the deal also requires an end to Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, a withdrawal Tehran had made a condition for any broader settlement.
Russia said it was ‘imperative’ that all parties ‘strictly adhere’ to what had been agreed, Lebanon included, and offered to help build lasting stability in the region.
China welcomed the deal and urged Tehran and Washington to approach the coming talks ‘rationally and pragmatically’ and to honour their commitments.
