US-Iran War Ends, Memorandum Signed

(Patria) - The United States and Iran have electronically signed a memorandum of understanding providing for the end of the war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with the agreement already in effect, two U.S. officials confirmed to Axios.

According to sources from the U.S. administration, the document was personally signed by President Donald Trump.

The signing was originally scheduled for Friday in Switzerland, but diplomatic sources claim that in recent days there have been discussions about the possibility of accelerating the entire process and bringing the agreement into effect earlier.

A diplomat from a mediating country stated that the main reason for the acceleration was the earliest possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, on which both sides had already agreed. Other sources indicate that an additional factor was the growing political pressure on the White House to publicly disclose the content of the memorandum.

A source familiar with the negotiations claims, however, that it was Iran that insisted the text of the agreement not be published before the formal signing, and rejects claims that Washington yielded under political pressure.

After days of speculation and uncertainty about the content of the agreement, a senior U.S. administration official read the full text of the memorandum to journalists during a telephone briefing on Wednesday.

Iran confirms agreement

Iran's Foreign Ministry announced that the two sides agreed the memorandum would be signed electronically, without waiting for an official ceremony.

Despite this, a meeting of the U.S. and Iranian delegations, led by U.S. Vice President J. D. Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, is still scheduled to take place as planned on Friday in Switzerland.

The main topic of discussion is expected to be the initiation of negotiations on the future of Iran's nuclear program and the drafting of a final agreement between Washington and Tehran.

Trump signed the memorandum during an official dinner in France, where he was in the company of French President Emmanuel Macron.

The memorandum also provides for the gradual lifting of all sanctions against Iran, including United Nations sanctions, International Atomic Energy Agency sanctions, and unilateral U.S. sanctions.

At the same time, the United States agreed to enable the use of frozen Iranian financial assets and state property. The method of releasing these assets is to be defined during the ensuing negotiations.

Immediately after the signing of the memorandum, the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to issue special authorizations for the export of Iranian oil, petroleum products, and related financial services.

Under the agreement, Iran reaffirmed that it will not develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

The two sides agreed that during future negotiations, they will define a method for neutralizing existing stocks of highly enriched uranium. The official text states that the minimum requirement is the dilution of uranium on Iranian territory under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.