President Donald Trump on Sunday said an agreement with Iran was "now complete", as he ordered an end to the US naval blockade against Iran in conjunction with what he said would be the opening of the strait of Hormuz.
"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," Trump wrote in a post on Truth social at 5:29pm ET (21:29 GMT). "Ships of the World, start your engines."
Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the agreement will kick off a 60-day period of further negotiations, which would include the removal of all sanctions against Iran, the handling of Iran's nuclear program, economic reconstruction and mechanisms to implement the agreement, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Trump announced the deal despite a flare up in hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel earlier in the day and last-minute concerns from Iranian leaders about the US' ability to deliver on its commitments. The official signing of the deal will be on 19 June in Switzerland, said Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has been facilitating negotiations between the US and Iran. Mediators will hold meetings this week laying the groundwork for technical talks and the official signing, he said.
"Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon," Sharif wrote in a post on social media.
Ice Brent crude futures started sliding on the news in early Asian hours. The front-month contract was trading at $83.88/bl as of 21:34 GMT, down by more than 3pc than in the end of Friday 12 June.
It remains unclear if tankers and other commercial vessels that have been stuck in the Mideast Gulf for months would be able to immediately start crossing the strait of Hormuz, portions of which have been mined. Although Trump said he authorized the "toll free" opening of the strait, Iranian officials have yet to commit that ships can cross the strait without adhering to requirements they have attempted to impose on maritime traffic.
Trump has a history of overstating progress in reopening the strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil flows. He wrongly claimed in April the strait was "completely open".
Earlier on Sunday, an Israel military strike against what Israel's Defense Forces claimed was a "Hezbollah command center" in Lebanon threatened to upend Trump's push for rapid progress on a deal to end the war, which the US and Israel started on 28 February. Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in a social media post, said the "incursion" indicated the US "either lacks the will to fulfill its commitments or the ability to do so." Trump said in a post on social media that the attack "should not have happened", particularly because an agreement was so close.
The terms of the deal released so far are similar to those imposed under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 under former president Barack Obama. Trump administration officials say despite the similarities to the prior deal, their approach was preferable.
"The huge difference is we did this from a position of strength. President Trump led with military might," US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said during an interview with CBS News on Sunday. "We can snap the blockade [against Iran] back at any point and they can't do anything about that."
