• US-Iran agreement: US President Donald Trump says an agreement with Iran has been reached and that the US will end its naval blockade on the country. Tehran has not immediately confirmed the agreement. Key mediator Pakistan said an official signing ceremony will take place in Switzerland on Friday.
• What comes next: The signing of a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran is expected to kick off 60 more days of negotiation on ending the war. US and Iranian officials have issued conflicting messages on the terms of the agreement.
• Lebanon tensions: Earlier Sunday, Trump sharply criticized Israel over a strike in Beirut, which had threatened to jeopardize diplomatic efforts. Iran’s top security official warned that Lebanon is one of Tehran’s “red lines” in negotiations.
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President Donald Trump announced Sunday that an agreement with Iran has been reached and that the US will end its naval blockade on the country, marking the most significant development yet in months of negotiations.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to issue a statement on an agreement with Iran “imminently,” as he continued to project confidence that an accord could be finalized soon.
Trump told The Wall Street Journal that any agreement would be signed electronically by himself or Vice President JD Vance.
The president said the agreement would include a commitment from Iran not to obtain nuclear weapons and an immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The president’s comments came as he told Axios earlier Sunday that he still expected an agreement with Iran to be signed before the end of the day, despite uncertainty over whether Tehran will ultimately approve the proposed framework.
“I think they want to get it done. This has never happened to them before,” Trump told The Journal when asked about skepticism that Iran would agree.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Sunday that “the Peace Deal between the United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran has been REACHED.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday blamed the US for Israel’s strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs and said the Islamic Republic is determined to take “all necessary measures” to exercise what it called its “legitimate” right to self-defense.
Vance arrives at the White House
0:08 • Source: CNN
Vance arrives at the White House
0:08
Qatari negotiators are still in Tehran to ensure talks remain on track, a diplomat with knowledge of the situation told CNN.
The Qatari negotiators are in the Iranian capital in coordination with the United States, the source said.
President Donald Trump told Axios earlier Sunday that he expects the signing to take place later in the day.
Iranian state media had reported earlier that Tehran had not yet made a final decision on the proposed framework, and that Qatari mediators flew to Iran on Sunday morning in an effort to help finalize the terms.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking an urgent meeting with US President Donald Trump, a Israeli source said, amid what appears to be growing tension over negotiations with Iran and the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran’s top security official warned Sunday that Lebanon is central to Tehran’s regional security posture, saying any breach of the Islamic Republic’s “red lines” would not be tolerated.
The potential US-Iran agreement is being called the “Islamabad declaration,” multiple sources have said, in recognition of the key mediating role Pakistan has played in attempting to bring about an end to the war.
Pakistan has emerged as a key diplomatic bridge between the US and Iran, having hosted face-to-face talks between delegations from both countries back in April. Pakistani officials have passed peace proposals and counterproposals between the warring sides and helped to negotiate and extend the current ceasefire.
The country is well-placed to act as mediator given its cordial ties with both Iran and the United States, with Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir — who US President Donald Trump has called his “favorite field marshal” — leading Islamabad’s efforts.
Pakistan is also home to the largest population of Shia Muslims outside of Iran and, unlike Islamic countries in the Gulf region, does not host any US military bases.
US President Donald Trump is urging Israel not to strike Lebanon at a time when he says Tehran and Washington are “so close” to a deal.
Israel struck what it said were Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut on Sunday, placing further strain on negotiations around a US-Iran agreement that Trump has hoped to sign on his 80th birthday.
If the memorandum of understanding is signed by Washington and Tehran, it’s expected to kick off 60 more days of negotiation on the details of a pact ending the war.
If you’re just joining us, here’s where things stand:
- “This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran.”
- Israel informed the US in advance of the strike on Beirut today, an Israeli source tells CNN. The source also said Israel took into consideration that the strike might lead Iran to retaliate with ballistic missile fire against Israel on the day of a potential signing.
- Two senior Iranian figures have criticized the United States’ ongoing support for Israel in the wake of the strikes.
- Meanwhile, Tehran has indicated it’s not yet made a final decision on the proposed US framework, and Iranian hardliners have in particular pushed back on some of the proposals in the text. Decisions on peace talks ultimately rest with the country’s supreme leader and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s president said, amid the signs of disagreement between key factions in the country.
- US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz deflected when he was asked earlier today to provide any specifics about the potential US-Iran memorandum of understanding. Waltz said more details will be left for future talks.
- Former President Barack Obama said it was “doubtful” any agreement that emerges between the US and Iran will be “significantly different” or “an improvement” over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, brokered under his administration in 2015.
- An energy expert said Americans should expect elevated oil and gas prices through late summer even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon.
CNN’s Aida Karimi, Sophie Tanno, Julia Benbrook, Auzinea Bacon, Casey Gannon, Christian Sierra, Tal Shalev, Charlotte Reck and Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.
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Tehran residents express doubt over ceasefire deal
0:48 • Source: CNN
Tehran residents express doubt over ceasefire deal
0:48
Some Iranians, wary of war, say they are ready for the conflict to end as Washington and Tehran appear to edge closer to an agreement.
More context: Tehran has not yet made a final decision on the proposed memorandum of understanding with the US, according to state media, and hardliners have been pushing back at some of the proposals.
The US and Iran have offered conflicting timelines on when an agreement may be signed, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps pushing back on President Donald Trump’s announcement that it is scheduled for today.
Decisions on the US-Israeli war with Iran and peace talks ultimately rest with the supreme leader and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Iran’s president has said, as some factions in the country have made it clear they are unhappy with the current deal on the table.
Preserving national unity and cohesion is the country’s priority today, Masoud Pezeshkian said according to Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
All political groups should feel bound to follow the decisions of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, President Pezeshkian stressed.
Meanwhile Ali Motahari, an Iranian politician and former deputy speaker of parliament, said that if the current deal is rejected and the war continues, Tehran could lose favorable conditions and later regret it, Iranian media outlet Jamaran reported. Motahari also said people should be told that the agreement would not mean overlooking US actions against Iran, according to the outlet.
His words come as hardliners have been taking to state-media with harsh criticisms of the reported details of the potential US-Iran deal, and some rallies have seen chanting against the negotiators.
Despite the discord, the regime is likely to have the final say.
CNN’s Tim Lister and Mostafa Salem contributed reporting.
On President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, he had big plans. At home, the White House will host a UFC fight on the South Lawn. Abroad, Trump said he would be signing a ceasefire agreement with Iran.
But Lebanon has always been a key part of that ceasefire, and the fighting just flared at a critical moment. Iran has demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of a broader regional agreement. Yet the fighting there has continued unabated, and today, it escalated once again.
The Israeli military carried out strikes on the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut after Hezbollah fire crossed into northern Israel. The last time Israel struck Beirut, it led to direct Iranian ballistic missile fire again.
That threat from Tehran remains. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on social media after the strike that America “either lacks the will to fulfill its commitments or the ability to do so.”
When Trump announced the last Lebanon ceasefire earlier this month, he said on social media that “Israel will not attack (Hezbollah), and they will not attack Israel.”
That equation has fallen apart. On Sunday, Trump downplayed the Hezbollah attacks on Israel, calling them “meaningless,” while calling for “no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon.” But it’s a demand he’s made before after the April ceasefire, and it didn’t last long.
At least in public statements, Iran sees little difference between the US and Israel. Would Iran sign a deal with the US right after Israel struck its Beirut? Iran was never quite as bullish as the US when it came to the imminent signing of an agreement.
And another escalation in Lebanon — one which Tehran had previously vowed would lead to an Iranian response — makes it more likely that what were already complicated negotiations between the US and Iran just got harder.
President Donald Trump today called on Israel to not strike Lebanon as the US and Iran negotiate a memorandum of understanding on the war.
“This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran.”
“Israel has the right to defend itself against threats, but the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process,” the post continued. “We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down.”
The post came hours after Israel said it struck Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut in response to fire into northern Israel earlier today. Previous Israeli strikes on Beirut a week ago triggered an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel, threatening to undo US efforts to reach a ceasefire with Iran.
Israel last carried out strikes on Beirut a week ago, when Netanyahu said: “We will not allow firing on our territory or on our communities, and we will act accordingly.”
Earlier this month, the US mediated a new fresh ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon under which Israel committed not to target Beirut if Hezbollah did not target Israeli civilians. Hezbollah rejected the new agreement.
“There should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon, but there should also be no more attacks by any other party, including Hezbollah, against Israel,” Trump wrote in his post. “This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let’s not blow it!”
Earlier this morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the administration was still on track to sign the memorandum with Iran despite the strikes by Israel.
“From all I know, we are on track. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” Hegseth said on CBS Face the Nation.
Americans should expect elevated oil and gas prices through late summer even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon, Rapidan Energy President Bob McNally said today.
“The shock absorbers that the global oil market has benefited from in March and April and May are starting to wear off,” he warned during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week.”
One of those shock absorbers is the US strategic reserve, which is quickly depleting amid the global oil disruption from the war in Iran. The supply was down another 7.9 million barrels between May 29 and June 5, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Details remain murky as to whether a peace agreement will be signed with Iran, though President Donald Trump had signaled a deal would be finalized as soon as Sunday.
McNally pointed out that “oil will flow” if the US and Iran reach a deal that sticks. Otherwise, oil prices could skyrocket to the mid-$100 range and US gas prices, which have steadily declined in recent weeks, could reach a new high of $5 a gallon.
The national average gas price fell to $4.07 a gallon on Sunday, according to AAA.
Elevated prices have come down slightly since surging above $100 a barrel in March. Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled at $82.25 on Friday, while US crude settled at $84.29 — down 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively.
Reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s oil flows, is considered crucial to bringing an end to the largest oil disruption in history. McNally noted that more than a billion barrels of oil have been lost due to the war.
Ever since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, he has mocked the “decaying” and “rotten” agreement brokered by former President Barack Obama, most recently yesterday.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) capped Iran’s uranium enrichment for 15 years and facilitated UN-led inspections to ensure Tehran’s adherence to the deal, in exchange for partially dissolving sanctions on Iranian oil wealth and unfreezing billions of dollars in assets.
The deal had broad international support, but was opposed by some US and Israeli lawmakers. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an address to the US Congress insisted the deal left much of Iran’s military power intact.
Trump abandoned the JCPOA in 2018, during his first presidency. Other signatories tried to sustain the agreement, but Iran gradually reduced its compliance from 2019, and the deal ultimately unraveled.
In February this year, after US-Israeli strikes on Iran disrupted tense talks to reach a fresh nuclear deal, hopes of achieving a new agreement began to fall apart. Tehran has retaliated by effectively shutting off the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint, giving Tehran new leverage over the US.
The White House has repeatedly demanded that Iran stop all uranium enrichment and relinquish its stockpile of near-bomb-grade material, something Tehran has so far refused to do.
Instead, Iran has insisted on retaining its grip on shipping through the key strait as a tool of pressure to bring an end to crippling economic sanctions.
It now says that it will only discuss its nuclear program during the 60-day negotiation period following the signing of an agreement with the US, according to Iranian media.
For his part, Obama said it was “doubtful” that any agreement that emerges between the US and Iran would be “significantly different” or “an improvement” on the JCPOA.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said he is “confident” an agreement with Iran will be signed today, but he deflected when asked to provide any specifics and said more details will be left for future talks.
“I’ll leave the actual details and timing to the White House,” Waltz said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The Iranians are incredibly difficult negotiators coupled with the fact that they’re having a very hard time getting guidance from their supreme leader.”
“I’m confident, the team is confident,” Waltz added. “I’ll let the final details be announced by them. I don’t want to get ahead of the president or the vice president, but they have every intent of getting this done today.”
Waltz, however, had few details of what the Iranians have agreed to, though he spoke of sanctions relief he described as “pay for performance” and a verification system for their nuclear facilities. Critically, he said there’s a long way to go.
“The most important piece going forward,” Waltz said, is that “this is a memorandum of understanding. A lot of these details are going to be worked out as we go forward into the next round of negotiations.”
“The highly enriched uranium has to go, their enrichment capabilities they have to walk away from, their support for terrorist proxies has to end,” Waltz added.
The ambassador also said that if Iran were to try and charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, it would be, “completely unacceptable, and frankly, illegal in international law behavior.”
Former President Barack Obama said it was “doubtful” that any agreement that emerges between the US and Iran would be “significantly different” or “an improvement” over the former president’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, brokered back in 2015.
“It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different, or a significant improvement, from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for, for a long stretch of time, before we, the United States pulled out of it,” Obama told ABC News in an interview that will fully air Wednesday.
The general outline of the JCPOA, which had international support but was controversial in the US when it was reached, was that Iran would limit its nuclear ambitions, cap its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its sites in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions on its oil wealth and unfreezing billions in frozen Iranian assets.
Obama added that he hoped “bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war.” He then identified diplomacy over military action as a preferred route to solving the majority of the problem, as he lamented “the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way into solutions.”
Obama called for “taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don’t solve 100% of the problem but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war.”
“You’d think we would have learned that lesson by now, but it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again,” he added.
CNN’s Zachary Wolf contributed to this report.
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Aftermath of Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs
1:02 • Source: CNN
Aftermath of Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs
1:02
Two senior Iranian figures criticized the United States’ ongoing support for Israel Sunday, after it launched an attack on Hezbollah strongholds in Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“The Zionists’ incursion into Dahiyeh has once again shown that America either lacks the will to fulfill its commitments or the ability to do so,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X, adding, “By giving the green light to the regime, you cannot gain concessions.”
Ghalibaf, who is a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general, appeared to suggest that Iran’s disapproval of the US’ backing of Israeli military action on Lebanon could jeopardize the negotiations the two nations are currently engaged in.
“If you lack the will and ability to fulfill your commitments, speaking of continuing the path is not possible,” said the parliament speaker, who has himself come under fire this weekend as Iranian protesters in Tehran expressed concern that the potential Memorandum of Understanding will tie the nation too closely to the US.
Elsewhere, senior Iranian military commander General Mohammad Jafar Asadi also reacted to Israel’s large-scale attack on Dahiyah by describing it as renewed Israeli aggression.
“Without a doubt, these crimes will not go unanswered,” Asadi warned during an interview with Iran’s Defa Press news agency.
CNN’s Mostafa Salem contributed to this reporting.