June 13, 2026 — US, Iran near agreement, officials plan virtual signing

Our live coverage has moved • Get the latest updates on the war with Iran here. Read more All catch up 29 Posts Link Copied! Key developments By CNN staff • Potential agreement: US President Donald Trump said an agreement with Iran is “scheduled to get signed” on Sunday and would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps denied plans for a Sunday signing , criticizing Trump’s “unusual insistence” on that day and saying a framework “has not yet been finalized.” • Next steps: Officials are planning for a virtual signing because meeting in person presented logistical challenges and more potential for the process to get derailed, sources told CNN. The memorandum of understanding would kick off a new 60-day period of negotiations on how to implement the framework and resolve remaining sticking points, a US official said Friday. • Questions remain: Iranian descriptions of the terms have differed from some details released by the US , including on key issues such as the future of Tehran’s nuclear program, regional proxy groups and frozen Iranian funds. Read more Link Copied! Questions remain as Trump says signing of US-Iran agreement to take place on Sunday By CNN staff President Donald Trump said an agreement with Iran is “scheduled to get signed” on Sunday and would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. CNN’s Julia Benbrook reports Iran has not committed to signing the agreement, and accounts differ on what it would include. Video Ad Feedback Trump says US-Iran agreement will be signed Sunday President Donald Trump said an agreement with Iran is “scheduled to get signed” on Sunday and would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. CNN’s Julia Benbrook reports Iran has not committed to signing the agreement, and accounts differ on what it would include. 1:17 • Source: CNN Trump says US-Iran agreement will be signed Sunday 1:17 Read more Link Copied! Catch up: Trump says agreement will be signed Sunday, but Iran has pushed back on timing By Isaac Tellechea People gather in support and allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Palestine Square in Tehran, Friday. Majid Saeedi/Getty Images On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said an agreement with Iran “is scheduled to get signed tomorrow,” adding that the signing would trigger the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. While Tehran has also signaled the sides are close to agreeing on terms, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps denied plans for a Sunday signing and criticized Trump’s “unusual insistence” on that day. It marks the latest divergence in US and Iranian statements during a flurry of diplomacy in recent days. If a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran is signed, it will kick off a new 60-day period of negotiations on how to implement the framework, a US official said Friday. Here’s what else you need to know: Virtual signing: Plans for an in-person gathering have been scrapped in favor of a potential electronic signing, officials familiar with the matter told CNN. The decision was made due to logistical challenges and in hopes of avoiding delays that might derail the negotiation process, one source said. Trump to meet with Middle Eastern leaders: The US president will depart the White House early Monday morning, arriving in France for this week’s G7 summit. Tuesday afternoon will see Trump join a working lunch with G7 and Middle Eastern leaders, a senior administration official said. Diplomatic calls: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Trump on Saturday about his efforts to end the conflict with Iran, emphasizing the importance that “any deal delivers a durable and lasting peace.” And Qatar’s prime minister spoke with his Pakistani counterpart in a separate call Saturday, in which he emphasized support for Islamabad’s role in mediating US-Iran talks. Tehran residents skeptical of potential agreement: Here’s how some people in the Iranian capital have been responding to the latest developments. CNN’s Julia Benbrook, Mitchell McCluskey, DJ Judd, Kevin Liptak, Elise Hammond, Abbas Al Lawati, Lauren Kent, Eyad Kourdi, Charlotte Reck, Max Foster, Catherine Nicholls and Duarte Mendonca contributed to this report. Read more Link Copied! Officials scrapped plans for in-person signing due in part to logistics By Kevin Liptak Plans to sign the memorandum of understanding virtually came together over the last day to cement the agreement quickly and avoid any eleventh-hour spoilers, officials familiar with the matter said. While President Donald Trump said last week he expected the signing to occur in person in Europe, with Vice President JD Vance attending for the US, those plans did not come to pass. That is due in part to complications over schedule. The president and vice president do not travel abroad simultaneously for security and continuity purposes, and Trump is scheduled to depart for a G7 summit in France early Monday. Getting Vance to and from a signing event in Europe in time for Trump to depart would have been difficult. Instead, an electronic signing was offered to get the agreement finalized. The fear among some of the mediators is that the longer it goes unsigned, the greater the likelihood that something upends progress or one or both sides reneges, according to a person familiar with the matter. As it stands, Washington and Tehran have each offered somewhat conflicting accounts of what is in the agreement, including what financial relief Iran will see. Whether those disputes are merely differences in public messaging, or reflect something deeper that could cause the agreement to collapse, remains unclear. Read more Link Copied! Trump and Starmer discuss efforts to end conflict with Iran By Max Foster Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend a session of parliament in London on Wednesday. Kin Cheung/AP British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to US President Donald Trump on Saturday about his efforts to end the conflict with Iran, according to a readout of the call provided by the prime minister’s office. Starmer emphasized the importance of “ensuring any deal delivers a durable and lasting peace.” During the call, Starmer “reiterated that the UK stands ready to support the implementation of any peace agreement and to work with international partners to ensure its success.” The two leaders agreed to stay in contact ahead of next week’s Group of Seven summit, a Downing Street spokesperson said. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on the call. Read more Link Copied! Iran criticizes Trump's "unusual insistence" on signing agreement on Sunday By Mitchell McCluskey Iran’s military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), denied that Iran would sign an agreement with the United States on Sunday and criticized President Donald Trump’s “unusual insistence” on signing the agreement that day. The IRGC described the timeline as a “test for Iran’s negotiating team” and that Trump’s announcement comes “despite Iranian negotiators explicitly stating that the memorandum has not yet been finalized and that signing on Sunday is definitely not happening.” In a post on Telegram , the group suggested that Trump intended to schedule the signing to coincide with his birthday on June 14. “Some observers believe his insistence may be driven by a desire to use the occasion symbolically and turn it into a personal publicity event,” the statement read. Read more Link Copied! Trump says agreement with Iran scheduled to be signed Sunday By Julia Benbrook US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday. Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images President Donald Trump said an agreement with Iran “is scheduled to get signed tomorrow” adding that “immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.” “At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains, thanks to our beautiful B-2 Bombers and their brilliant pilots, and downblend and destroy it, whether in Iran, or the United States,” Trump posted on Truth Social. The president said that “hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly” but added that if it doesn’t, “we have the ultimate alternative.” The memorandum of understanding being negotiated between the US and Iran states that, if signed, it would trigger a 60-day period for “technical” negotiations to take place, a senior Trump administration official said Friday. While the memorandum outlines a series of topline commitments that Iran must agree to — including the dismantling of its nuclear program, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the US destroying Iran’s enriched material — the highly technical talks will focus on how to specifically implement and carry out those points, the official said. Read more Link Copied! Iranian official says "no plans" to travel to Switzerland in coming days By Dalia Abdelwahab Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei denied recent reports suggesting Geneva, Switzerland, would soon be the venue for the signing of a US-Iran truce. “The exact timing of the signing should be awaited; however, there are no plans for travel to Geneva or anywhere else within the next couple of days,” Baghaei said Saturday, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The logistics of the imminent signing of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding remain unclear. Options floated around by US and Iranian officials include a “remote” signing of the agreement, possibly followed by an in-person joint signing at a later date. Baghaei, however, said both parties “have never been this close to an understanding.” Read more Link Copied! Qatar offers "full support" for Pakistan's mediation efforts By Eyad Kourdi and Charlotte Reck Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani held a phone call with his Pakistani counterpart Saturday to emphasize his support for Islamabad’s role in mediating talks between the US and Iran. Al-Thani expressed his country’s “great satisfaction with the progress made in the negotiations,” according to a Qatari readout of the conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It added that Pakistan’s updates on the state of negotiations signal “hope that the American and Iranian sides will sign the agreement soon.” “His Excellency renewed the State of Qatar’s full support for Pakistan’s mediation efforts … stressing the need for all parties to respond to these efforts in a way that helps create suitable conditions toward reaching a comprehensive agreement that achieves sustainable peace in the region,” the Qatari readout said. Read more Link Copied! Violence rages on in Lebanon amid hopes potential US-Iran agreement will include the country By Sana Noor Haq Video Ad Feedback Smoke billows from Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon after reported IDF strikes 0:05 • Source: CNN Smoke billows from Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon after reported IDF strikes 0:05 Fighting raged in Lebanon on Saturday amid hopes that a potential agreement for the resolution of the conflict between the United States and Iran would also cover the wartorn country. A raid by Israeli forces killed a mayor in the southern Lebanese town of Al-Rihan on Saturday as they launched heavy fire on 19 areas, while the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah targeted Israeli troops elsewhere in the country. Two other people were killed in separate raids, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), after the Israeli military attacked Tyre, Jezzine and Nabatiyeh. Israeli planes also struck the towns of Seddiqine, Borj Qalaouiyah, Majdal Zoun and Al-Kanisa, including a raid on a church, NNA reported. The Israeli military issued evacuation statements for residents in four areas – Ghassaniyah, Zarrariyah, Kothriyah Al-Reez Farm, and Sir Al-Gharbiyah – on Saturday. The UN previously warned the breadth of such blanket orders could amount to “prohibited forced displacement.” CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment. The Israeli military claimed to have “struck more than 70 Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites” in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 19 attacks on Israeli army posts Friday through Saturday, in statements on Telegram. Tehran has insisted that Israeli forces halt attacks in Lebanon, warning an agreement with Washington must involve a ceasefire there. The memorandum of