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A tentative deal is reached to end the Iran war and Trump orders a stop to the US naval blockade
1 of 9 | The United States and Iran have reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz. This offers relief to the global economy more than three months since fighting began.
2 of 9 | The Israeli military said it launched strikes on Beirut on Sunday targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, despite ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to the U.S.-Iran war. Smoke could be seen rising over the Lebanese capital. (AP Video shot by Bilal Hussein and Malak Harb)
3 of 9 | The Israeli military announced on Sunday it launched strikes on Beirut targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Smoke could be seen rising over the Lebanese capital. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah attacks in northern Israel.
4 of 9 | The United States and Iran have reached an initial agreement to end their war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the Gulf region and global economy more than three months since fighting began. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was signed on Friday. He said the deal followed talks with Qatar, another mediator.
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A woman waves an Iranian flags as she chants slogans against Iran and U.S. talks at the Islamic Revolution square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
5 of 9 | A woman waves an Iranian flags as she chants slogans against Iran and U.S. talks at the Islamic Revolution square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Members of the Lebanese Army Intelligence stand guard in front of an apartment that was struck in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
6 of 9 | Members of the Lebanese Army Intelligence stand guard in front of an apartment that was struck in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Pedestrians walk past a poster showing the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini on a sidewalk at the Islamic Revolution square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
7 of 9 | Pedestrians walk past a poster showing the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini on a sidewalk at the Islamic Revolution square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Lebanese soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
8 of 9 | Lebanese soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
9 of 9 | People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
By MUNIR AHMED, JULIA FRANKEL, ABBY SEWELL and WILL WEISSERT
Updated 6:54 AM GMT+3, June 15, 2026
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ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States and Iran reached an initial agreement early Monday to open the Strait of Hormuz and further extend a shaky ceasefire in the Iran war, potentially allowing desperately needed oil and natural gas to reach the global market.
Details of the deal were not immediately released and Iran signaled implementation would not start until the signing, which key mediator Pakistan said would occur Friday in Switzerland. It could provide a way to end a war that killed thousands across the Middle East, including the top leaders of Iran’s theocracy, and sparked a historic energy crisis.
But the memorandum of understanding over the war already faced intense challenges. Israel’s continued hostilities with the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs Sunday, nearly derailed the negotiations.
Meanwhile, the deal gives just 60 days to resolve what to do about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and its atomic program. That took years to resolve in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from that accord in his first term, setting the stage for the tensions that culminated in the war.
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“Congratulations to all!” Trump wrote on social media as he celebrated his 80th birthday Sunday with a UFC cage match fight at the White House.
He added, “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,” which was imposed in retaliation for Iran’s grip on the crucial waterway.
He soon hedged, however, saying the strait wouldn’t open until Friday’s signing.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was signed Friday. He said the deal followed talks with Qatar, another mediator.
Israel, which has insisted it be allowed a freehand to pursue Hezbollah as it occupies southern Lebanon and has extended its military operations into areas its forces haven’t been in a quarter century, did not immediately comment. Israel joined the U.S. in launching the war on Feb. 28.
Benchmark Brent crude oil fell more than $4 a barrel on the news as Asian stock markets rallied.
Pakistan, a key mediator, announces deal
Pakistan first announced the deal, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying “both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.” It remains unclear whether Israel, which relies on the U.S. but has launched in wars against its enemies since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, agreed to that term.
He added that mediators this week will facilitate meetings to “lay the foundation for the technical talks.”
Broader negotiations on outstanding issues like Iran’s nuclear program would continue over the next 60 days, two senior Pakistani officials said earlier Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. If the sides fail to reach a resolution within that time, the timeline could be extended.
Iranian state television cited the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council saying the war on all fronts “will end immediately and permanently beginning tonight” — but that the U.S. blockade “will be terminated immediately and in full.”
Qatari mediators later left Tehran following 17 hours of negotiations, said an official briefed on the developments who spoke on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the talks. Separate preparatory meetings with each side will take place in Doha this week, the official said.
It was not clear who from Iran would sign the deal on Friday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News the White House was still figuring out who would attend: “I certainly plan to be there, but it’s possible the president himself could be there.”
But concern among Republicans in the U.S. already could be seen. They included U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who described Vance as “the architect of the deal.”
“I am somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming,” Graham wrote online.
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Congress would exercise oversight on any accord with Iran.
“We have seen time and again: War cannot change the Iranian regime,” he said.
Interim deal faces intense scrutiny
The first strike of the war killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Khamenei’s son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is now supreme leader. He has not been seen in the public since the war began, but his approval was needed for Iran to sign off on the deal.
There was apparent friction inside Iran in the hours before the announcement, as the government warned that division at home over the deal weakened its negotiating position.
The deal likely returns the region to a status that existed before the war, but with Iran having proven its ability to disrupt shipping in the strait. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer, and its effective closure rocked the global economy.
Even with a deal, it will take months for oil and gas supplies to flow freely enough for the world’s needs to be met because shipping and insurance companies want to be confident the agreement will last, energy experts said.
Tehran also still has a ballistic missile arsenal and enough highly enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to pursue them.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.
The U.S. has sought the removal of the enriched uranium from Iran as part of a deal. Russia has offered to take it. But Iran insists it wants to keep the uranium.
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Frankel reported from Jerusalem, Sewell from Beirut and Weissert from Washington. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Cathy Bussewitz in New York and Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, contributed to this report.
JULIA FRANKEL
JULIA FRANKEL
Frankel, based in Jerusalem, has reported from across Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Her reporting focuses on war, human rights, displacement and criminal justice.
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ABBY SEWELL
ABBY SEWELL
Sewell is the Associated Press news director for Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. She joined the AP in 2022 but has been based in the region since 2016, reporting and guiding coverage on some of its most significant news stories.
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WILL WEISSERT
WILL WEISSERT
Weissert covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington.
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