Summary

  • The US and Iran have agreed a framework deal to end the war, which mediator Pakistan says will be signed on Friday in Switzerland

  • Donald Trump says as part of the agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened. "Let the oil flow!" he writes in a post on Truth Social - prices have fallen since the announcement

  • In Iran, the deputy foreign minister says on state TV that a deal has been reached while the country's top military command hails it as a victory for Tehran

  • The full text is yet to be published, but our correspondent says: The deal's priority is to extend the 8 April ceasefire in time and scope - another 60 days pledging no hostilities while both sides commit to talks

  • Pakistan, which announced late on Sunday that the agreement had been made, says "military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon" will end - Israel is yet to comment

  • The war began with US and Israeli strikes across Iran on 28 February, prompting Iran to attack Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf

  1. 'Priority now is its swift and full implementation' - Ursula von der Leyenpublished at 07:41 BST

    A woman, wearing a brown blazer, speaking into a microphone, with the blue flag and gold stars of a flag behind her.Image source, EPA/Shutterstock
    Image caption,

    Ursula Von der Leyen says "freedom of navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz must be "toll-free"

    Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union Commission, has welcomed the agreement but says "the priority now is its swift and full implementation by all parties".

    Von der Leyen says there should be an "immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz", describing freedom of navigation as "essential for regional stability and the global economy".

    She adds the framework deal opens the door to broader negotiations on peace and security in the Middle East.

    "And of course there can be no peace in the Middle East while Lebanon is in flames. Once again Europe calls on all parties to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity and implement a genuine ceasefire," von der Leyen says.

    Von der Leyen goes on to say that European leaders who will be at the G7 this week in France will discuss the issue.

  2. Asian shares jump as investors welcome dealpublished at 07:27 BST

    Peter Hoskins
    Business reporter, Singapore

    Asian shares are sharply higher as investors welcome the framework deal.

    Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 share index is up by around 5%, while the Kospi in South Korea is 4.8% higher.

    Stock markets in the region have been on a wild ride in recent months, with shares often rising or falling sharply in response to developments in the US-Israel war with Iran.

    Asian economies have been hit particularly hard by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz as they are heavily reliant on the Middle East for their oil and gas supplies.

  3. 'This marks a potential breakthrough' - European reaction to dealpublished at 07:23 BST

    A woman, wearing a pink blazer, speaking into two microphones.Image source, EPA Shutterstock
    Image caption,

    Kaja Kallas says EU Foreign Ministers will discuss how the EU can be closely involved in the next phase

    This morning, we've had more European reaction to news of the framework agreement between the US and Iran.

    António Costa, President of the European Council, says he looks "forward to an end to this costly war".

    Writing on X, he adds the "weapons must now fall silent and outstanding differences must be resolved by peaceful means".

    The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas describes the framework deal as "a potential breakthrough".

    She says the agreement can "give much needed space for deeper negotiations".

  4. A framework deal announced - who has said what?published at 06:55 BST

    Pakistan PM Shehbaz SharifImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Pakistan's PM first announced the deal in a post on X last night

    Last night, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the US and Iran "declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon".

    He added an official signing ceremony would take place in Switzerland on 19 June - the statement in full.

    US President Donald Trump said "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete".

    He also said in a post on Truth Social that he authorised "the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz", and the removal of the US blockade of Iran’s ports.

    In a second post, he said the deal would "bring Peace and Security to the whole Region”, and that the opening of the strait would mean “oil will flow on both ends again for the Region, and the World".

    Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed in a phone call on state TV that a deal with the US had been finalised and that the official signing would happen in Switzerland on Friday.

    "An immediate and permanent end to the war and military operations on different fronts including Lebanon will be announced tonight," he said.

    Iranian state media has been reporting what it says are the draft details of a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, although the specific points have not been officially confirmed by either country - read the full list here.

  5. Analysis

    The framework deal is crucial but also just a beginningpublished at 05:56 BST

    Gary O’Donoghue
    Chief North America Correspondent

    This agreement is quite a moment for Donald Trump – celebrating not just his 80th birthday on Sunday but also a major diplomatic breakthrough.

    After so many false dawns, it seems that Washington and Tehran now agree on one thing – that a memorandum of understanding has been finalised, even if the elements stressed in each capital focus on those parts each finds it easiest to stomach.

    Another key apparent element of agreement is that Lebanon does feature in both sides' description of the deal – though with Israel and Hezbollah not signatories, there will be significant doubt over their willingness to go along with it.

    In truth, the deal – while crucial – is just a beginning.

    It will kick off a period of 60 days during which the US and Iran will have to agree on how to destroy and remove Iran's nuclear material. That in itself could easily falter.

    The exact status of the Strait of Hormuz is also something over which divergent views are still apparent, and the details around the timing of sanctions relief and the unfreezing of Iranian assets is still not consistent between both parties.

    Many of these questions will linger until the full final text is made public.

    One thing is clear, though: Trump's assurance to the Iranian people that "help was on its way" and that, when the US was finished, the government would be theirs to take does not look likely to happen any time soon.

  6. A roundup of events leading to the announcement of the dealpublished at 05:45 BST

    A framework deal to end the Iran war has been reached.

    Here's what you need to know about the latest developments:

  7. Leaders head to France for G7published at 05:30 BST

    France will host the G7 in the lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains from Monday, with the seven member states expected to discuss the framework deal between the US and Iran alongside other key matters.

    Although the agreement is not due to be signed until Friday, G7 leaders will likely ask US President Donald Trump for further details of the accord, with a particular emphasis on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

    As we reported earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron has said leaders will also discuss the support for Lebanon under the new accord.

    The informal grouping includes the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. The European Union (EU) will also be in attendance this week, but does not count as one of the core "7" as it is a bloc, rather than a single nation.

    Other items on the agenda for this year's summit include support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia, and the rise of artificial intelligence.

  8. Deal could 'fundamentally transform the Middle East for the next 50 years' - Vancepublished at 05:11 BST

    JD Vance speaks with the media as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews on 28 May, 2026.Image source, Reuters

    Earlier on Sunday, US Vice-President JD Vance told Fox News that the agreement with Iran had the potential to "fundamentally transform the Middle East for the next 50 years".

    "This region of the world has been a basket case for my entire life and longer than that," he told the outlet.

    Vance said Donald Trump had managed to "eliminate the threat of Iran".

    He added that it will now be possible "to build to a new era of Middle East prosperity and success".

    "Where frankly we can generate a lot of prosperity for the American people out of that region."

  9. Iran's football team lands in US after deal announcedpublished at 04:46 BST

    Shaimaa Khalil
    Los Angeles

    Iran's football team has arrived in the US for the World Cup, landing in Los Angeles just as a deal was announced to halt hostilities between Iran and the US.

    The deal to end the fighting between the US and Iran came just a day before the Iranian team’s opening World Cup match against New Zealand in Los Angeles, easing fears of further escalation but doing little to remove the controversy surrounding the team.

    Iran's striker Mehdi Taremi told the BBC the ongoing tension has overshadowed the tournament from the moment the squad arrived.

    Preparations have also been disrupted.

    The team faced visa problems and was forced to move its World Cup base camp to Mexico.

    When Iran takes to the pitch in LA, many in the city's large Iranian community won't be there to watch.

    Some are planning protests against Fifa's ban on the pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flag, while others see the team as representing a regime they want gone.

    The players insist they're here to unite Iranians and focus on football.

    But for this squad, politics has been impossible to escape.

  10. What do we know about Iran’s nuclear programme?published at 04:26 BST

    Ghoncheh Habibiazad
    Senior reporter, BBC Persian

    Iran's nuclear programme has been the focus of diplomatic talks, sanctions on Iran, and inspections for decades. It was often referred to by Donald Trump as the reason the US joined with Israel in launching strikes on the country in late February.

    Iran maintains its programme is peaceful. The US and Israel have consistently rejected this and say there have been efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

    Under a nuclear deal agreed in 2015, Iran had limited its enrichment to 3.67%, which can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. Weapons-grade uranium is 90% enriched or more.

    Iran began openly escalating its enrichment levels after Donald Trump abandoned the previous agreement in 2018.

    By June last year, Iran was enriching at 60% and had amassed a stockpile of 400kg, according to the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA).

    The IAEA said last week it had been able to conduct a "routine inspection" at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant recently, but it had been almost a year since inspectors had been able to access other nuclear facilities.

    A map of Iran showing the location of its main nuclear facilities
  11. More world leaders welcome US-Iran dealpublished at 03:55 BST

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed "the announcement that the United States and Iran have agreed on a peace deal".

    "This represents a critical step towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict," a spokesman said.

    Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was among the latest group of world leaders to praise the deal.

    She says Japan "strongly hopes" that "free and safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz will be ensured in practice, and that a final agreement on Iran's nuclear issue and other matters will be reached as soon as possible".

    Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he hopes the deal will lead to a "durable and lasting peace".

    "While full recovery will take time, restoring this vital trade corridor is essential to easing pressure on energy prices and economies, including in our region," he says.

    New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said it was a "pivotal, constructive deal" and "a step towards reducing tensions and promoting stability in a region that is critical to global economic security".

    We heard before from the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Italy.

  12. Analysis

    Oil reserves will not be replenished soonpublished at 03:35 BST

    David Waddell
    Business reporter

    It will take some time before global oil reserves recover.

    While some tankers are already positioned to sail straight back into the Gulf, many shipping lines are likely to wait for clarity on how the deal works in practice, and for signs of sustained de‑escalation.

    ADNOC, the UAE state-owned oil company, has suggested that full oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz may not resume until the first or second quarter of next year, even in the event of a firm peace agreement.

    In March, the International Energy Agency announced that its member countries would release 400 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves. More than a third of that has already been drawn down.

    While producers will seek first to meet the global oil demand (around 104m barrels per day), it will take many months for those reserves to be replenished.

  13. BBC's Global Affairs Correspondent on the dealpublished at 03:16 BST

    The BBC's Global Affairs Correspondent, Sebastian Usher, talks through what we know so far about the initial agreement announced by the US and Iran:

  14. Analysis

    What the deal means for US and Iranpublished at 02:57 BST

    Tom Bateman
    US State Department correspondent

    This agreement was ripe for taking place.

    Donald Trump has been under growing pressure from the sustained hike in petrol prices which was feeding through to the highest inflation rate in the US in three years.

    Iran's economy was being throttled with long-term sanctions currently tightened by the US naval blockade of its ports.

    Both sides needed a reprieve.

    The deal's priority is to extend the 8 April ceasefire in time and scope – another 60 days pledging no hostilities, lifting the US blockade in return for Iran relinquishing its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, while both sides commit to talks.

    We don’t have the text yet but on the basis of how the deal was being briefed by the administration late last week it does not solve in any conclusive way the issues that apparently motivated Trump’s attack in the first place, nor those which drove Iran’s aggressive retaliation.

    To get to something each side can sell as a victory, Trump needs a long-term (at least 20 years), verifiable prohibition on nuclear enrichment by Tehran.

    Iran needs comprehensive sanctions relief and access to tens of billions of dollars in frozen oil revenues. Those issues and their sequencing have always been core sticking points.

    While the deal may contain commitments or "understandings" to talk further about, it does not, as far as we know so far, meaningfully agree on them.

    And that's before even mentioning the demands of Israel and hawkish Republicans in Washington that a final deal must also tame Iran's conventional weapons programme and the funding of its armed allies in the region.

  15. Former US officials weigh in on deal between US and Iranpublished at 02:29 BST

    In announcing the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, all sides are "frantically trying to spin the text to make themselves look like the victor" says Andrew Peek, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran and Iraq at the US Department of State.

    Speaking to the BBC, he said he thought all sides had "something to be happy and unhappy about".

    Iran will be pleased with the inclusion of Lebanon in the deal, said Peek, while the US would be happy that there was no mention of tolls for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

    Barbara Leaf, a former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, told the BBC that the "big get" of the new deal between the US and Iran is "restoring the status quo".

    She accused the Trump administration of "mincing around, using a lot of wordplay to suggest that what is not going to happen, is actually going to happen", pointing to the unfreezing of Iranian assets as a key example.

  16. Almost 15 hours of talks led to agreementpublished at 02:12 BST

    Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi wearing a pinstripe suit, sitting in a room with other men in suits around himImage source, Getty Images

    Iran's deputy foreign minister says Qatari mediators held "nearly 14 to 15 hours of lengthy talks" in Tehran to reach an agreement on a draft memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran.

    ”This negotiation process took a long time," Kazem Gharibabadi told Iranian state media on Monday.

    "A Qatari delegation was in Tehran yesterday to finalise discussions on the text of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States.

    "Nearly 14 to 15 hours of lengthy talks took place, during which we presented the Islamic Republic of Iran’s final amendments to the text. Naturally, those amendments were accepted, and the text of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding was finalised.”

    The deputy minister said talks on a final deal will happen over a 60-day period where Iran has "several issues to address" with a top priority being the lifting of all sanctions against it.

  17. Analysis

    Measuring 'the deal'published at 01:56 BST

    Frank Gardner
    Security correspondent

    Anything that frees up the Strait of Hormuz is bound to be welcomed, not just by the global shipping industry and the wider world economy but by Iran too.

    The Islamic Republic has been trying hard not to give Donald Trump the satisfaction of knowing how much his naval blockade of its Gulf ports is hurting, but the damage to Iran’s economy has been huge.

    Yet the real measure of any "peace deal" is what has or has not been achieved after this war began on 28 February.

    Because up until that date, Gulf oil, gas, fertiliser, helium and everything else was flowing unobstructed through the Strait. Any deal that restores that flow is simply undoing the damage caused by this war.

    Beyond that, the real long-term test will be to see if, as the US President claims, the danger of Iran developing a nuclear weapon has really been reduced.

    Or, as some fear, whether the newly emboldened hardliners in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) will now secretly try to race for a bomb as their best defence against being attacked again.

  18. US naval blockade to be lifted in 30 days, Iranian media reportspublished at 01:42 BST

    As we reported earlier, Iranian state media says that one of the points included in the memorandum of understanding is the lifting of the US naval blockade within 30 days.

    The US military has been blockading Iran's ports after Tehran effectively closed the busy Strait of Hormuz through which about 20% of the world's oil and gas supplies are usually transported.

    Centcom says it had disabled nine vessels and redirected 135 more since since the blockade began on 13 April.

    Map titled “US blockade of Iran’s Gulf coast” showing Iran’s southern coastline along the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman highlighted in red to indicate a blockade. Iranian territorial waters are shaded, with a caption stating “US blockade will affect all ships travelling to or from Iran’s Gulf coast” Ports and major jetties are marked with purple dots, including Kharg Island and Bandar Abbas. Surrounding seas are labelled, including the Arabian Sea, and a distance scale, source credit, and BBC logo are visible.
  19. US senator 'somewhat concerned' by Iran's interpretation of agreementpublished at 01:26 BST

    US Senator Lindsey Graham says that while he is "pleased" that a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran has been agreed, he is "somewhat concerned" that "Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming".

    In his post to X, the Republican senator said he would be watching the ensuing negotiations "closely", and looked forward to reviewing "the final product" in Congress.

    Graham wrote: "Congratulations to all in getting us to this point. Time will tell."

    Senator Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters outside the Senate Chamber of the Capitol Building in Washington DC on 19 November 2025.Image source, EPA
  20. Trump tells New York Times that Strait will be 'permanently toll free'published at 01:12 BST

    The US president gave an interview to the New York Times on Sunday afternoon, in which he says the agreement with Iran ensures the Strait of Hormuz is "permanently toll free".

    In what the paper says was a 28-minute phone call, Donald Trump also said that if Iran fails to reach a final nuclear accord with the US he would restart military attacks, or make the US "the guardian of the Middle East" in return for a fifth of the region's revenue.

    He remained steadfast in his previous assertions that the decision to attack Iran in February, and his subsequent naval blockade of its ports, has "remade the Middle East in America’s favor".

    It is not clear whether the president had spoken to the outlet further following the announcement of the deal between the US and Iran.