Trump says Iran deal is already signed, expects Strait open by Friday

The deal brokered between the United States and Iran has been electronically signed, President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday. The Strait of Hormuz had partially reopened and would open fully by Friday, the president added. Trump first announced the deal had been brokered on Sunday, and most details of the peace agreement remain unclear. The president’s latest update came soon after his arrival in Evian, France, to attend the annual G7 summit, where ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are taking center stage.

Trump held a bilateral meeting with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and voiced his desire for Israel to pull back from its ongoing strikes against the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah. Trump told the media on Tuesday that he recommended Israeli leaders let Syria take over the fight against Hezbollah. If Israel can't do the job without killing everyone, Syria will take care of Hezbollah better than Israel, Trump said Tuesday.

Trump acknowledged that despite being annoyed at Israel’s strikes on Lebanon, he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained a great relationship. There’s no Israel without the United States, and Netanyahu must be more responsible with respect to Lebanon, he added.

What has Iran said? Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi discussed the peace deal during a Tuesday interview, and described a two-phase approach to the agreement. The first phase was already underway and included the initial memorandum of mutual understanding that ended the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, according to Araqchi. The initial memorandum included negotiations on ending the war and additional agreements around the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy blockade, the release of Iran’s frozen assets, and other related issues.

After the initial memorandum is formally signed on paper on Friday, about two more months of negotiations will broker a final, lasting peace agreement, Araqchi said. The final agreement will include decisions about nuclear-related issues and lifting sanctions, he said.

Araqchi described the United States and Israel on one side of the agreement, and Iran and Hezbollah on the other side, and characterized ending the war in Lebanon as an inseparable issue for negotiators. The war’s end will include a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all occupied territories, Araqchi said. He added that any future Israeli strikes on Lebanon and its territories would be considered a violation of the peace deal.

What’s Israel saying? Netanyahu told reporters during a Monday interview that his leadership saved Israel from annihilation but reiterated that the struggle against Iran was not over. Israel must continue standing on guard with the determination to defend itself, he said. Netanyahu vowed that Iran would never obtain nuclear weapons under his leadership, regardless of how the deal turns out.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher and Myrna Brown’s discussion on The World and Everything in It with a military analyst and former U.S. Special Forces officer who questions the impact of Iran’s new agreement.