Iran and the United States have reached a peace deal after more than 100 days of war, $30bn spent, and around 10,000 people killed.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, announced that a peace deal between US and Iran has been reached late on Sunday night.
US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after: ‘The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete.
‘Congratulations to all! 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.
‘Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!’
Pakistan said the official signing ceremony, which needed Iran’s Supreme Leader’s approval, would be signed in Switzerland on Friday.
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They added: ‘Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
‘With the agreement now in place, mediators will facilitate a series of meetings this week. These pre-implementation discussions will lay the foundation for the technical talks and the official signing ceremony.’
Trump’s post came hours before a UFC event at the White House marking his 80th birthday.
Iranian state media reported Pakistan’s statement after a day in which Israel, sidelined from the negotiations, attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs and posed a threat to the discussions nearing an end.
The deal largely returns 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 transits of 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.
Khamenei’s son is now supreme leader, though he has not been seen in the public since the war began.
(Credits: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
Throughout negotiations, Trump alternatively threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure, even its civilisation, and praised the relationship with Iran as ‘more professional’ as his administration sought an exit from the war with midterm elections coming up.
Iran’s government, with its own tensions around hardliners as it scrambled to replace several top officials killed in the war, repeatedly expressed wariness of negotiations after rounds of talks often ended with US and Israeli strikes.
Tehran has emphasised that it wanted a deal to focus on ending the war, with discussions put off until later on its nuclear program — the issue at the centre of it all.
Iran has 440.9 kilograms (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 program 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.