At the Palace of Versailles in France, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a framework peace deal to end the Iran War and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian later signed a copy of the agreement.
The “memorandum of understanding” formally ends the war on all fronts—including Lebanon, where Israel has waged a military campaign against the militant group Hezbollah—and commits the U.S. and Iran to achieving a final deal within 60 days. In recent days, Trump has criticized Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for civilian casualties in Lebanon.
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Trump was in France for the G7 summit, where he had delivered extraordinary remarks earlier in the day suggesting Iran shouldn’t be forced to give up its civilian nuclear energy program and ballistic missiles.
The memorandum paves the way to sanctions relief for Iran and a reconstruction fund. Whether and how Iran will retain some measure of control over the Hormuz strait after the 60-day period of negotiations isn’t clear.
Some Republicans in Congress and the media condemned the deal, saying it is too favorable to the Islamic Republic. On Truth Social, the president reacted to such criticisms. “These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are ‘tumbling’ down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid,” Trump wrote Thursday morning. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
