Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Jun 15, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: U.S.-Iran Framework Brings Relief, but Challenges Loom
The United States and Iran reached a preliminary deal that was expected to open the Strait of Hormuz. But it defers the toughest issues to further talks.
Pinned
Lara JakesLeo Sands and Zolan Kanno-Youngs
Here’s the latest
World leaders on Monday cautiously welcomed a new cease-fire deal and diplomatic road map to ending the monthslong U.S. war with Iran, as oil prices tumbled, fighting in Lebanon appeared to ease and Iranians expressed wary relief that a conflict that has killed thousands across the Middle East could soon end.
The text of the agreement has not been released. The framework announced on Sunday by President Trump and Iranian officials includes a cease-fire of 60 days to pave the way for negotiations toward a final peace agreement. Mr. Trump said the deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world’s energy supplies, which would likely ease soaring U.S. gas prices that have become a political problem for the president and bring respite to Iran’s economy.
Iranian officials have not commented on the specifics of the agreement.
The deal could still come apart, and the negotiations to come are likely to be complex. They are expected to include Iran’s demands that the Trump administration ease American economic sanctions, and U.S. demands for further limits on Tehran’s nuclear program — two issues on which neither side has shown much willingness to compromise.
Vice President JD Vance described the agreement with Iran as a major step toward peace, but did not divulge specific details. In an interview with CNBC, he also acknowledged that the Trump administration still had “very important details to figure out” in the next phase of negotiations, including how to destroy or dispose of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
It was also unclear what the deal would mean for Lebanon, where the Israeli military has been attacking the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah. Iran and Pakistan, a mediator in the negotiations, said the agreement called for an immediate end to military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah appeared to scale back their fighting in southern Lebanon on Monday after the cease-fire was announced. In a statement, Hezbollah congratulated Iran for what it described as the “major achievement” of securing a “comprehensive cease-fire on all fronts, including Lebanon.”
Yet Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed withdrawing Israeli troops from Lebanon. Israel was not directly involved in the U.S.-Iran talks.
The framework was scheduled to be signed by American and Iranian leaders on Friday in Geneva.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Trump calls The Times: In a 28-minute phone conversation that he initiated from the White House, and a brief follow-up call, the president asserted that his decision to attack Iran in late February, and the subsequent naval blockade of its ports, had remade the Middle East in America’s favor and saved Israel from nuclear obliteration. Read more ›
Strait of Hormuz: Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that he had authorized “the immediate removal of the United States naval blockade” on Iranian ports. Yet the economic shock waves of the war will keep rippling through the global economy for months.
Europe meetings: Mr. Trump was traveling to France to attend a summit of the Group of 7 nations, where the deal will be a major topic of discussion this week. Read more ›
Lawmakers react: Democrats and Republicans largely stuck to party lines in their reactions to the deal. But Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, voiced skepticism about the extent to which it would be able to curb Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Opposition in Israel: As details about the agreement surfaced in news media reports before it was announced, Israelis across the political spectrum responded with criticism and discontent. Read more ›
Show less
June 15, 2026, 10:10 a.m. ET59 minutes ago
Leo Sands and Sanam Mahoozi
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei suggested that Iran had received commitments from the United States that it would eventually access frozen assets and secure the lifting of sanctions, but that the timeline was not clear. “Alongside nuclear-related matters, these are subjects that will be discussed immediately after the signing of the memorandum,” he told a news conference, according to state media, referring to the preliminary deal announced on Sunday.
June 15, 2026, 9:36 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Leo Sands and Sanam Mahoozi
In his first news briefing since the preliminary agreement was announced, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei offered a glimpse into the Iranian perspective on what was agreed. Referring to the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei said that Iran would not seek to collect tolls on ships passing through the waterway, but suggested that Iran could still charge fees “in exchange for the services that are provided.” Trump had said the deal meant the strait would be “permanently toll-free.”
June 15, 2026, 9:33 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Geneva
President Trump said in a social media post Monday that ships were “starting to move” through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s post was curious, given that a small number of ships have been moving through the strait during the war, and Trump had said that the waterway would fully reopen after the deal is signed, which is scheduled to take place on Friday. Shipping companies said Monday that they were taking a cautious approach and needed more details before navigating through the waterway.
June 15, 2026, 9:26 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Erica L. Green and Zolan Kanno-Youngs
Erica L. Green and Zolan Kanno-Youngs cover the White House and are traveling to Évian-les-Bains, France, for the Group of 7 summit. They covered President Trump’s attendance at last year’s meeting in Canada.
news analysis
Trump celebrates a win, but much remains unfinished.
Almost immediately after striking a deal with Iran, President Trump appeared eager to take a victory lap.
He trumpeted that the agreement would open the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world’s energy supplies whose stalled ship traffic has rattled the global economy.
He told The New York Times that his efforts had saved Israel from nuclear extinction and made the Middle East safer. It all gave him a key win as he traveled to France for the Group of 7 summit, where he will meet with European leaders who have criticized his approach to the war.
Despite Mr. Trump’s grandiose claims, the agreement has not yet achieved the core goals he laid out three months ago for launching U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
Back then, Mr. Trump said the United States intended to “annihilate” Iran’s military capabilities, abolish its nuclear ambitions, topple its theocratic leadership and liberate its people, whom he encouraged to take over their government when the fighting had stopped. Just one week after the strikes started, he said Iran’s only path to a deal was an “unconditional surrender.”
Mr. Trump publicly declared victory on Sunday mainly based on solving a problem of his own making, in miscalculating Iran’s ability to choke off the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump asserted on Truth Social that he had authorized the toll-free opening of the crucial waterway, which would essentially restore the prewar status quo, and celebrated that the global energy markets would rebound.
“Ships of the World, start your engines,” he wrote. “Let the oil flow!”
The latest framework, which has not yet been publicly released and is expected to be signed in Geneva on Friday, is a capstone to three months in which Mr. Trump has delivered a dizzying array of mixed messages.
He said that Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated” in U.S. strikes last year, yet said that the war was necessary to stop the Iranians from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Mr. Trump said that Iran’s nuclear program posed a threat not only to allies, but also to U.S. troops overseas and to everyday Americans. He was clear that the war’s conclusion would rest on one stipulation: “It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.”
Even on Saturday, when he announced that a deal would be signed the next day, he claimed that Iran’s leaders “no longer want a nuclear weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement.”
But the deal leaves that issue unresolved for at least another 60 days, when both sides are expected to negotiate on nuclear issues.
Mr. Trump did not cast the deal as a solution to the nuclear threat. Instead he focused on the Middle East and his legacy.
“This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region,” he wrote in a social media post. “Many presidents have tried to make Peace with Iran, and all have failed before me.”
Mr. Trump has also sent conflicting messages over how far he would go to secure a nuclear agreement with Iran. He has gone from threatening to wipe out the country’s civilization to saying he was in no hurry to remove its remaining stockpiles of enriched uranium.
At the start of the war, Mr. Trump initially claimed the United States would accomplish its goals in “four to five weeks.” He repeatedly compared the war in Iran to his quick military operation in Venezuela, in which the top leader was removed but much of the rest of the government remained in place, willing to work with the United States.
This war instead dragged on for months, killing thousands of Iranian civilians and 13 American service members. Rather than bowing to the United States, Iran’s new leadership has been emboldened, consistently withstanding military and diplomatic pressure to persist in its goal of advancing a nuclear program.
In negotiations with Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the Iranians have held firm on not giving up the right to enrich uranium.
“As for the nuclear issues, there really is no agreement,” Daniel B. Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said in a statement on X. “Iran knows how to drag out those negotiations, and try to pocket concessions along the way.”
He added that the United States now appeared to be paying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by potentially lifting sanctions imposed against Iran. The Trump administration has said Iran would receive no relief from sanctions or release of its frozen financial assets until it delivered on its commitments.
The framework does provide a path toward potential peace and economic relief. And on Monday, both world leaders and global markets expressed optimism.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, who previously said that the United States had “no strategy” and was being “humiliated” by Iran in the war, congratulated both sides on the diplomatic breakthrough, calling it a potential step toward “a reinvigorated global economy and a more secure Middle East.”
But it was a cautious optimism given all the uncertainties. Crucially, Iran’s nuclear capability will need to be hashed out over the next two months of negotiations, raising questions over whether a lasting peace will materialize.
Plenty of spoilers could arise along the way. Notably Israel, a partner in the war but not in the framework for peace, has been less than enthusiastic about the deal. Mr. Trump himself said in the Times interview that he was prepared to restart military attacks against Tehran if Iran failed to reach a final nuclear accord with the United States.
Some of Mr. Trump’s allies appeared concerned over the unfinished aspects of the negotiations. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has long supported military action against Iran, said he was “somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming.”
“I will be watching closely the ensuing negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program and other matters,” Mr. Graham said. He added that Vice President JD Vance, whom he described as the “architect of the deal,” should ensure that the final deal is presented to Congress.
In an interview with CNBC on Monday, Mr. Vance said the framework gave the administration “leverage,” though there remained “details to figure out,” including on enriched uranium.
As negotiations progressed over the weekend, Mr. Trump posted a lengthy criticism on social media of the previous deal struck with Iran by President Barack Obama, asserting that the one he was working on would be better.
Mr. Shapiro, who is also a fellow at the research institute The Atlantic Council, said on social media that Mr. Trump seemed focused on comparing his deal favorably to the Obama deal, but the United States was far from being able to come to such a conclusion.
“It is possible that no deal will ever be reached,” Mr. Shapiro said, “and very likely that if one is reached, it will be worse than what we could have achieved through diplomacy before the war.”
Show more
June 15, 2026, 9:11 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Leo Sands and Reham Mourshed
In its statement, Hezbollah characterized the U.S.-Iran preliminary agreement as a “prelude” to its wider ambition of securing the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Hezbollah also urged displaced Lebanese residents to wait before returning to their homes in the south, citing “risks arising from possible Israeli violations” of the cease-fire.
June 15, 2026, 9:11 a.m. ET2 hours ago
David M. Halbfinger and Ronen Bergman
news analysis
Israel counts the ways that Netanyahu’s Iran strategy failed.
For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, the war he had hoped would secure his legacy — Israel and the United States together attacking Iran — may be ending in a way that could sully it.
The framework agreement to end the war in Iran, which was announced on Sunday, omits some of the most important things Israel wanted.
The full text of the deal has not yet been released and Israel was not directly involved in the negotiations. Initial details suggest that the agreement does nothing to curb Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, or its funding of regional proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, who have attacked Israel with their own arsenals. It could help Iran bolster those proxies by easing sanctions, which would allow billions of dollars to flow into its bank accounts.
The deal’s terms when it comes to constraining Iran’s nuclear program — of greatest importance to Israel, and the greatest priority of Mr. Netanyahu’s career — remain undisclosed or still to be negotiated during the agreed 60-day cease-fire to allow for further talks. Questions remain over what will become of Iran’s stock of near-bomb-grade uranium and whether the country will be able to keep enriching nuclear fuel.
Worse still for Mr. Netanyahu, who faces re-election in a few months and is behind in the polls, President Trump, the Israeli leader’s most valuable political asset, has publicly rebuked him multiple times in recent weeks.
While Mr. Trump has praised Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, as pragmatic, he has called Mr. Netanyahu “crazy,” ungrateful and lacking in judgment.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump added “difficult” to that litany of insults, after Israel’s military — precisely as the United States was trying to close its deal with Iran — struck what it described as a Hezbollah target on the outskirts of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, in retaliation for a Hezbollah attack that wounded two Israeli soldiers.
Effectively, Mr. Netanyahu appeared to have fallen into a trap.
Had he refrained from hitting back at Hezbollah at that moment, his growing number of critics, including on the Israeli right, surely would have accused him of allowing a new “equation” to take hold.
Striking Beirut could have been seen as off-limits to Israel because of Iran’s alliance with Hezbollah and Mr. Trump’s determination to close a deal with Tehran.
But going ahead with the strike was equally perilous for Mr. Netanyahu because it may have been viewed as an attempt to derail the U.S.-Iran agreement just as it was on the verge of being clinched.
And it put Mr. Netanyahu at odds with Mr. Trump for the third straight week over Israel’s freedom of action to retaliate in Lebanon for Hezbollah attacks.
Notably, Israel did not consult or coordinate the strike with the United States; it only notified the U.S. military moments before it began, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.
If Mr. Netanyahu’s goal indeed was to blow up the pending U.S.-Iran deal, he failed to anticipate how forcefully Mr. Trump would push to save it.
Three hours after Israel picked up information that Iran was preparing to attack it with missiles sometime on Sunday night, the two defense officials said, Israel learned that Iran had halted those preparations to give Mr. Trump a chance to calm the situation and close the agreement.
Israel now finds itself counting the ways that Mr. Netanyahu’s grand strategy against Iran has failed.
And Israelis are increasingly convinced that it will make the 2015 Iran nuclear deal look “perfect in comparison,” as the Netanyahu biographer Ben Caspit wrote in the newspaper Maariv on Monday.
Show less
June 15, 2026, 9:11 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon
The new agreement leaves Lebanon’s fate murky.
The United States and Iran have struck an initial agreement to end their war. But, once again, Lebanon’s fate is far from clear.
Iranian and Pakistani officials said that the agreement included an end to the fighting in Lebanon. But neither the United States nor Iran have released the contents of the agreement itself. And President Trump has not publicly commented on whether the cease-fire extends to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, there.
In recent months, Israel, which was not directly involved in the U.S.-Iran talks, has repeatedly signaled that it does not feel bound by such agreements. It has continued to bombard Lebanon, despite the announcement of several cease-fires in recent weeks.
On Monday, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that the country’s forces would remain in the swath of Lebanese territory that they have occupied since the start of the war. He added that the area would be “cleared of local residents” and that the Israeli military would continue to demolish houses in the area.
The previous day, the Israeli military struck the suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, threatening to scuttle the U.S.-Iran agreement at the last minute.
The uncertainty in Lebanon reflects the country’s precarious place in the wider conflict and the waning credibility of recent cease-fire agreements there. For weeks, the country has been a flashpoint in the negotiations between the United States and Iran over a framework for peace.
Iran has insisted that any agreement with the U.S. extend to the conflict in Lebanon. The war there erupted after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia, fired at Israel in solidarity with Tehran days after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been intent on continuing his military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and has sought to disentangle the two conflicts.
He may lose that battle, depending on the extent to which both Iran and the United States expect Israel to wind down its military campaign.
Despite the announcement of the agreement, Israeli forces were still shelling Hezbollah targets and carrying out controlled demolitions in southern Lebanon on Monday, although witnesses said the strikes were less intense than earlier in the war. Israeli surveillance drones were buzzing over the Lebanese capital, Beirut. And Lebanese officials and Hezbollah warned families displaced from the south not to return to their homes just yet.
Hassan Rahal, who was displaced from his home in the southern town of Burj Rahal, heeded that warning. “Things aren’t stable yet,” he said from Beirut, where he rented an apartment when the war started. “I don’t know yet if this is a real cease-fire,” he added.
Others were determined to go home, despite the risks.
Hussein Jaber, 41, said he witnessed an Israeli artillery strike in the morning as he returned to his village of Mayfadoun, in the southern district of Nabatieh. But even before the strike, he was convinced that he would not be able to return home for good anytime soon.
“I was really shocked to see the scale of damage in the town,” he said. “Houses are leveled, mine was destroyed too. I can’t bring my family back here.”
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
Show less
June 15, 2026, 9:09 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Leo Sands and Reham Mourshed
Hezbollah issued a statement on Monday congratulating Iran, its primary backer, for what it described as the “major achievement” of securing a “comprehensive ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon.” The statement expressed “deep gratitude” for Iran’s “unwavering support for Lebanon, its people, and its resistance, and for their insistence that Lebanon be included in any understanding leading to an end to the war and the safeguarding of its rights.”
June 15, 2026, 8:57 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Vice President JD Vance also acknowledged that the Trump administration still had “very important details to figure out” in the next phase of negotiations, including how to destroy or dispose of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
June 15, 2026, 8:56 a.m. ET2 hours ago
In an interview with CNBC, Vice President JD Vance described the agreement with Iran as a major step towards peace, but did not divulge specific details of the deal. “We have the diplomatic, economic, and military leverage, but we also are extending an open hand to the Iranians, and saying, if you guys negotiate in good faith and you make that long-term commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, then we are going to make sure that your country is successful,” Vance said.
This preliminary agreement, however, does not achieve the core goals he laid out three months ago for launching the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, including abolishing its nuclear capabilities.
June 15, 2026, 7:52 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Leo Sands and Hwaida Saad
Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia, appeared to scale back their fighting in southern Lebanon on Monday, after the United States and Iran agreed to a new cease-fire deal. People in the area said Israel had continued to launch strikes but the scale seemed to be less intense.
Hussein Jaber, 41, said he saw an Israeli artillery strike in the morning as he returned to his home in the village of Mayfadoun. At a nearby hospital, the head of the government’s civil defense emergency service in the area, Khodor Ghandour, shared photographs that he took showing plumes of smoke rising above buildings.
The Israeli military declined to comment in response to a request for information about the reported strikes. Speaking on condition of anonymity over fear for their safety, a Hezbollah official on Monday urged displaced residents of southern Lebanon to delay any return home until it was clearer that the fighting was over.
June 15, 2026, 7:49 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Jenny Gross, based in London, and Peter Eavis in New York have been writing about the shipping disruptions in the gulf since the war began.
Shipping firms are cautious as they await details of the deal.
The preliminary deal to end the war between the United States and Iran seeks to quickly reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but companies said on Monday that they need more details before resuming full navigation.
Since late February, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the strait has been effectively closed, leaving hundreds of ships stranded in the Persian Gulf, unable to transport oil and gas to global markets.
“There are a lot of questions that need to be clarified,” said S.V. Anchan, the chairman of Safesea Group, a shipping company based in Piscataway, N.J., that has two ships in the gulf, both of which had been attacked since the war’s start. One of the ships was so badly damaged that it was not operating and the other was waiting to leave the gulf.
Mr. Anchan said he wanted a clear commitment from Iran that ships could pass through the strait safely. “We want to hear from the Iranians that they will not attack us,” he said.
Another shipping executive, Andreas Enger, chief executive of the Norwegian shipping company Höegh Autoliners, said that news of the agreement was not enough to allow for the immediate resumption of ships through the strait.
“But let’s hope that it is the start of the process that will get us there,” he said.
Mr. Enger said it could take weeks or even months for him to feel comfortable sending ships into the Persian Gulf. “There very well may still be uncertainties and unresolved issues that would drag this out even longer,” he said.
The Japanese Shipowners’ Association said that it would wait for “more concrete information,” according to a local media report. There are 38 Japanese-related vessels stranded in the gulf, the association said.
How many ships cross the Strait of Hormuz a day
Note: Data may not include all activity because some vessels have turned off tracking capabilities during the war.
Source: Lloyd’s List.
The New York Times
The United States and Iran were expected to sign the agreement on Friday in Geneva. Critical issues that have divided the countries, including the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, have been deferred to later negotiations. The text of the agreement, which Iranian officials described as a memorandum of understanding, has not been released.
President Trump said on Sunday that the agreement with Iran would ultimately ensure that the Strait of Hormuz was “permanently toll-free.” As of Monday, Iranian officials had not commented on the specifics of the agreement.
In retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli strikes, Iran has asserted a role of gatekeeper of the strait, attacking vessels to deter ships. This campaign pushed up oil prices and gave Iran valuable leverage against the United States.
Some ships were able to get out of the gulf through the strait. They did so with Iranian permission or with assistance from the U.S. military. Kpler, a ship tracking company, said about 500 large commercial vessels remained in the gulf.
Arsenio Dominguez, the head of the International Maritime Organization, said on Monday that the agreement was “an important step toward restoring safety in this vital maritime corridor for seafarers and ships.”
But he added that it would take time to ensure that security guarantees were put in place to evacuate the roughly 11,000 stranded seafarers.
There are also significant logistical steps that need to be taken for ships to begin to safely pass through the strait.
Shipping companies would want a neutral body, like the International Maritime Organization, to identify safe routes and a sequence for ships to exit, said Jakob P. Larsen, the chief security officer at Bimco, the world’s largest shipping association.
“If they all go in one big pile, there’s a really big risk of navigational incidents, collisions, things like that,” he said.
In recent weeks, a small number of ships have entered the Persian Gulf. A test of any final agreement would be the willingness of companies to resume traffic into the gulf in large numbers.
“We would need clear assurances from both sides that the strait is fully open and safe,” Mr. Larsen said. “It’s not enough that transits are permitted. They also need to be safe.”
Hisako Ueno contributed reporting from Tokyo.
Show less
June 15, 2026, 7:13 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates welcomed the agreement between the United States and Iran, saying it affirmed the importance of diplomacy and international law as it called for an end to all hostilities “in a manner that enhances security and stability in the region.”
The Emirates hosts several large American military bases and was targeted by Iranian retaliatory attacks during the conflict. It had adopted a more aggressive posture toward attacking Iran in response than its neighbors during the war.
June 15, 2026, 6:53 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan said in a speech in Parliament on Monday that his country would host the signing ceremony of the U.S.-Iran agreement scheduled for Friday in Geneva, after interceding for months between American and Iranian officials. Top officials from both countries held their first round of talks in Islamabad in April and Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, has been a key a go-between for President Trump and Iranian leaders. A spokesman for Mr. Sharif did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on what it would mean for Pakistan to host the signing ceremony in Geneva.
June 15, 2026, 6:51 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Here’s what to know about the U.S.-Iran framework.
The United States and Iran have reached a preliminary agreement to cease hostilities for 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, paving the way to future talks that could ultimately end their monthslong war.
The full text of the agreement has not been published. But emerging details suggested that some of the most difficult issues, including the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, have been deferred to future rounds of negotiations.
The framework commits the United States to begin dismantling its naval blockade of Iran, while Iran will clear mines in the Strait of Hormuz and reopen the vital waterway to shipping, according to officials briefed on the document. In effect, that would return the situation to the status quo in late February, when the war began.
Here’s what to know.
Who announced the agreement?
The United States and Iran, alongside Pakistan, which has been playing the role of mediator, all said on Sunday that an agreement had been reached, although they used varying language to describe it.
President Trump said in a post on social media that “This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region.” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council described the agreement as a “memorandum of understanding.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan said that the United States and Iran had committed to an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” a point that was also emphasized by Iranian officials. Fighting erupted in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia, soon after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, and has been a key sticking point in the U.S.-Iran talks.
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah, the warring sides in Lebanon, is a party to the agreement between the United States and Iran. It is unclear how the new deal will affect the fighting there, although Israeli officials on Monday rejected the prospect of any military withdrawal from Lebanon.
What is the timeline?
The United States and Iran have agreed to a multistage framework involving lengthier negotiations.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, told state television that Iran’s commitments under the agreement — which he did not detail in full — would begin on Friday, when the deal is scheduled to be formally signed in Geneva.
After that, the United States and Iran will cease hostilities for at least 60 days to allow for negotiations to resolve outstanding issues. Mr. Sharif said that mediators will “lay the foundations for the technical talks” in a series of discussions this week.
Mr. Gharibabadi said that Iran’s nuclear program — a critical, unresolved issue — will be among the issues to be discussed in the next round of negotiations.
What about the Strait of Hormuz?
Before the war, around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply transited through the Strait of Hormuz, which was in effect shut down by Iran during the fighting, leading to a spike in global energy prices.
Mr. Trump said on social media Sunday that the strait would reopen to commercial shipping on Friday, suggesting that Iran would first remove mines from the crucial waterway. He also said that he had ordered an immediate end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, which began in mid-April in an effort to block the flow of Iranian oil.
In an interview with The New York Times, the president said that the strait would be “permanently toll-free” under the framework agreement, restoring the status before the war began.
Mr. Trump’s announcement about the strait prompted the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, to fall nearly 5 percent to around $83 a barrel.
Iranian officials have not commented on the specifics of the agreement.
What happens to Iran’s nuclear program?
The preliminary agreement leaves the question of Iran’s nuclear program unresolved. Mr. Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said that “nuclear matters” would be among the issues discussed during the next round of negotiations.
According to earlier comments by U.S. officials and diplomats, there are four major points of negotiation for those discussions: how long Iran may suspend uranium enrichment, the future of Iran’s current stockpile of enriched uranium, the fate of Iran’s nuclear sites and future inspections of Iran’s nuclear program.
Mr. Trump has long said that Iran must give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which the United States and Israel fear could be used to build a nuclear weapon. Iran’s leadership has maintained for years that it has no intentions to build an atomic weapon.
In the interview with The Times, Mr. Trump conceded that no consensus had been reached. He said the United States and Iran were negotiating over the length of time for which Iran would commit to suspending its enrichment of uranium. Under the agreement being sought, he said, Iran would be limited to enriching uranium for “nonmilitary purposes.”
What will happen to Iran’s frozen assets?
The fate of billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets, around $25 billion of which are locked in overseas accounts by longstanding international sanctions, was also deferred.
According to Mr. Gharibabadi, the lifting of sanctions will be addressed in future negotiations.
In the interview on Sunday, Mr. Trump repeated his insistence that Tehran would not secure the release of its frozen assets or receive any relief from sanctions until it delivered on its commitments.
Will the agreement end the fighting in Lebanon?
Iran has insisted that any peace agreement encompass Lebanon, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has sought to disentangle the two conflicts and retain the latitude to attack Hezbollah.
Iran and Pakistan said that the preliminary agreement announced Sunday included a commitment to end military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon.
But since neither Hezbollah nor Israel is party to the agreement, so enforcing that commitment would depend on the United States’ ability to compel Israel to wind down its military campaign and Iran’s cooperation in restraining Hezbollah. The extent to which Iran and the United States expect Israel to scale back its military operations was also unclear.
On Monday, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement that Israeli forces will remain in the swath of Lebanese territory they have seized and occupied since the war began.
Show less
June 15, 2026, 6:32 a.m. ET5 hours ago
Reporting from Rehovot, Israel
Iran has said the preliminary agreement calls for an immediate end to military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon. But Israel, which was not directly involved in the U.S.-Iran talks, has indicated that it still wants the latitude to attack Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement on Monday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the withdrawal of the country’s military from Lebanon. “If Iran attacks Israel due to events in Lebanon, we will strike it with full force,” he said.
June 15, 2026, 6:29 a.m. ET5 hours ago
Steven Erlanger writes about European, Middle Eastern and American diplomacy and security.
On the nuclear issue, each side finds a way to claim victory.
President Trump says the agreement he reached with Iran could end the war he started and ensure that the country will never have a nuclear weapon. He claimed that Iran has promised not to develop one, a promise it has made before, including in the nuclear deal reached with the Obama administration that Mr. Trump ripped up.
But the details on the future of Iran’s nuclear program have not been settled. Those issues will be negotiated in the 60 days after two sides are scheduled to sign the agreement on Friday.
The text of the accord has not been released and both sides are spinning their versions of it, making it difficult to know precisely what Iran has promised. For example, Iran has in principle agreed to suspend enriching uranium for some years, but the two sides have yet to agree on how long that will be.
In a telephone interview with The New York Times on Sunday, Mr. Trump admitted that a consensus had not been reached. He wants Iran to stop enriching for 20 years; Iran reportedly wants no more than a decade.
The president hinted that he might settle for a 15-year suspension but was also adamant that Iran would be limited to enriching at low levels that “could never be used by the military.”
But he declined to say what that enrichment level would be, and whether it would be the same as the 3.67 percent purity — enough for civilian use only — laid out in the 2015 nuclear deal signed by former President Barack Obama that Mr. Trump abandoned in 2018, calling it the worst deal in history. He said only that the new accord would assure that “they can only enrich for nonmilitary purposes. Forever.”
If it really is “forever,” that would be an improvement on the 2015 deal, which had time limits attached to it.
Mr. Trump on Sunday said the United States would work with Iran to dilute the highly enriched nuclear material it has. But how that is done, by whom, and under what auspices and inspection routine remain subjects for further detailed negotiations.
It is also unclear what will happen to the rest of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and its sophisticated centrifuges, the machines that spin at supersonic speed to enrich the material.
What is clear is that Iran’s scientific knowledge of the nuclear cycle cannot be eliminated, that Iran has a history of building secret enrichment facilities hidden from international inspectors, and that a new, more hard-line Iranian government may believe that it can only deter another attack by illicitly working toward a nuclear weapon.
Daniel B. Shapiro, a former American ambassador to Israel, said on social media that “there really is no agreement, other than to negotiate over the HEU stockpile and an enrichment moratorium,” referring to highly enriched uranium.
“Iran knows how to drag out those negotiations, and try to pocket concessions along the way,” he continued. “It is possible that no deal will ever be reached, and very likely that if one is reached, it will be worse than what we could have achieved through diplomacy before the war.”
Robert Malley, who negotiated with Iran on the 2015 deal, echoed this idea. “As for the issues that will have to be addressed after the MOU — the fate of Iran’s nuclear program; the disposition of its enriched uranium; the scope of sanctions relief — they almost certainly will be left for later, and will almost certainly be harder to resolve than prior to the war,” he said on social media.
Criticism is already building about the agreement even before it has officially been signed, with a lack of clarity on some of each side’s promises, especially about whether Washington will agree to unfreeze some Iranian assets or lift some economic sanctions. And there is a deep well of mistrust between Washington and Tehran, let alone between Iran and Israel, which is not directly involved in the negotiations.
Iran’s foreign ministry, for example, warned overnight that “entering 60-day negotiations is conditional upon U.S. fulfilling these commitments,” which it listed as “ending war, lifting blockade, and releasing assets.”
Nate Swanson, director of the Iran Strategy Project at the Atlantic Council, a think tank, said that “the United States hasn’t shown the patience necessary to complete a complicated nuclear deal that requires new monitoring and verification measures.”
Mr. Swanson added that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, “may not want to do anything beyond a small, transactional deal with the United States, given Trump’s withdrawal from the Obama administration’s deal in 2018,” and the fact that the United States and Israel killed his father and other family members.
Iran has made it clear that it will insist on its right to enrich uranium, even after a period of suspension, and that it intends to keep building ballistic missiles and supporting its proxy forces as best it can, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian territories and the Houthis in Yemen. And it will also be capable of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz again whenever it likes, and no matter what it promises.
A correction was made on
June 15, 2026
:
An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the family members of Iran’s supreme leader who were killed in military strikes. They included his father and other family members. The article also overstated what was known about Iran’s agreement on reducing its levels of highly enriched uranium in the memorandum of understanding with the United States.