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Deal declared, fighting shifts
The United States and Iran reached a deal to end months of fighting, President Donald Trump said Sunday, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said both sides had declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
““I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz”
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade.”
The deal’s timing and scope were immediately complicated by Israel’s Sunday strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Trump said “should not have happened” as negotiations with Iran entered the final stages.
Haaretz reported that Iran called off its planned missile strikes on Israel after Trump’s intervention, citing Iranian officials, and said Iran’s leadership debated whether retaliation would derail Tehran’s agreement with Washington.
Sharif wrote on X that the official signing ceremony would be on Friday, 19 June in Switzerland, while Trump told The Wall Street Journal he planned to issue a statement confirming the United States had agreed to a deal with Iran imminently.
Trump’s anger at Netanyahu
Trump publicly attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Israel’s Beirut strikes, and The Independent said Trump condemned the attack for jeopardizing the United States’ peace deal with Iran.
Trump told Axios that the Beirut strike “It shook it up. It delayed the signing by a few hours. It was supposed to be now. Now it is scheduled for a few hours from now,” according to The Independent’s account of his remarks.
The Independent also quoted Trump urging both sides to “not blow it” as negotiations with Iran entered the final stages, while Axios reporting in multiple outlets framed the exchange as expletive-laden.
In the same reporting stream, Trump said, “Why did Bibi have to do a f***ing attack? I was so pissed off. I let him know. He has no f***ing judgement. I let him know that.”
ABC’s “This Week” interview cited U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz saying Trump and Vice President JD Vance “have every intent of getting this done today,” even as the status of the deal remained contested in other accounts.
What’s at stake next
The deal’s implementation hinged on whether violence in Lebanon would stop, with Trump writing that Israel has the right to defend itself but that the attack it was responding to was “very small and meaningless” and should not disrupt “this important process.”
““We have not reached a final conclusion on this matter.””
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the deal’s signing would “not be tomorrow,” and quoted Iran’s spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei saying, “We have not reached a final conclusion on this matter.”
Haaretz added that Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs as a “terrorist crime,” saying it violated Lebanon’s sovereignty and constituted a “blatant violation” of the cease-fire agreement.
Haaretz also quoted Ali Akbar Velayati warning that if Israel continues striking Lebanon, Tehran will block the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, and said, “Zero hour has arrived, and the order has been given.”
Meanwhile, the IDF said two soldiers were wounded, one moderately and one lightly, after a rocket was fired at Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon, and the military said both soldiers were evacuated for medical treatment.