United States President Donald Trump on Monday said that the peace deal with Iran was already signed and the Strait of Hormuz would be completely opened for all sea traffic on June 19.
“I’m very happy to say … the deal’s all signed,” he said while addressing a media talk with French President Emmanuel Macron in France ahead of the G7 summit.
He said that the text of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran will be released “sometime after Friday”.
“I think pretty soon. I would say, I mean, I want it to be released, because it’s a very powerful document,” Trump said. “It’s a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So, probably pretty soon. I would say sometime after Friday.”
A US official similarly said just earlier that Washington and Tehran had signed a MoU to settle a near four-month war, adding that a signing ceremony would take place on Friday and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz would gradually ramp up.
The MoU was signed by Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, one US official said.
Speaking at a briefing with reporters, the US official added that there will also be a signing ceremony on Friday.
“You will see significant increase in traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, actually starting already, and that will ramp up slowly over time,” the US official, speaking on the condition of ?anonymity, said. “We probably won’t return to normal in two weeks, but we will see a significant increase in strait traffic,” the official said.
Trump earlier said that ships carrying oil were beginning to move out of the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Iran declared that they had reached an agreement to end the war.
“Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz. They are going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally safe, secure, and pristine,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“There are other areas of travel, also!!!” he added.
Vice President JD Vance said the US held significant leverage in negotiations with Iran and expressed confidence that upcoming talks would lead to a successful agreement.
“I think the best outcome is a good deal for the American people, which we have fundamentally,” Vance said in an interview with CNBC.
Discussing negotiations expected later this week, Vance said: “We expect to have a full spectrum of representatives at the negotiation on Friday. Again, we’ve been talking to these people sometimes indirectly, but sometimes directly, and that’s what’s fundamentally changed under the president’s leadership.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s FM Araghchi said that the heads of the Iranian and US negotiating delegations were likely to meet in Switzerland on Friday before signing the MoU and launching a new round of talks, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
Speaking after a joint meeting with members of parliament’s Economic Commission, Araghchi said a meeting between the heads of the two delegations was expected to take place in Switzerland on Friday.
“The heads of the two delegations will likely meet in Switzerland on Friday and the MoU between Iran and the United States may be signed, after which the first round of subsequent negotiations will be held,” he said.