DUBAI/WASHINGTON/PARIS, June 12 (Reuters) – A memorandum between the United States and Iran to end the Gulf war could be signed on Sunday, a Western source told Reuters on Friday, with Geneva emerging as the most likely location for the signing.
The source said the draft of the memorandum was still being finalized and that Iran maintained its position that the deal should also end fighting in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia.
The aim is to finalize the draft by Saturday so that the agreement can be signed by US Vice President JD Vance and the President of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf. No location had been defined, but Geneva was emerging as the most likely.
Trump said on Thursday that he was canceling further attacks on Iran because the deal was already in place.
“We just reached a great deal on the war with Iran,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
But the terms of the deal, as outlined Friday by Iranian officials, appear to offer Tehran much of what the country has demanded so far, with Trump apparently achieving little of what he sought beyond the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed after he ordered strikes in February.
A high-ranking Iranian source told Reuters on Friday that the draft would lift sanctions on Iran’s oil, unfreeze billions of dollars of its funds and require a cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
Nuclear issues would be set aside for later negotiations. Washington wants a deal to ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon; Iran claims it is not seeking this.
Lifting sanctions, unfreezing Iranian assets and stopping Israeli attacks on Lebanon are essential demands from Iran. The source did not mention what Iran could offer in return. There was no immediate response from the United States.
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Iranian news agency Mehr reported that the terms also included other key US concessions, including a commitment to withdraw its forces from the region of Iran and present a plan for rebuilding the devastated Iranian economy.
“The United States and its allies need to present plans for rebuilding Iran worth at least $300 billion,” the Mehr report said.
RELIEF IN THE MARKETS
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Trump’s announcement of a deal — hours after he again threatened to strike Iran “very hard” on Thursday night — led to a rally in global stocks and a plunge in oil prices on Friday. Brent crude prices fell more than 2% in morning trading in Europe.
Throughout the war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Trump made similar statements that a deal was close, but no deal was reached.
But markets were reassured that his latest words signaled the end of a particularly tense few days of escalation, which began with Iran and Israel exchanging fire for the first time since the April ceasefire and continued with two days of U.S. strikes on Iran and Iranian responses against regional U.S. bases.
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“The strait will be officially opened as soon as we sign it, which could happen soon, very soon, maybe over the weekend in Europe,” Trump said, adding that Vance would be present at the signing of the agreement. He did not give further details.
Asked whether Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, had approved the deal, Trump said: “I understand the answer is yes.”
