President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran will be signed on Sunday, June 14. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
DUBAI/BEIRUT/WASHINGTON/EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France, June 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday a memorandum of understanding aiming to end the war in the Gulf has already been signed by the United States and Iran.
“The deal’s all signed. And the strait is already partially opened,” Trump said shortly after arriving in France for a summit of the G7 group of big economies, hailing the agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz, where a three-month blockade of Gulf oil supplies has caused global economic disruption.
An official signing ceremony for the agreement is due to be held on Friday in Geneva, just an hour’s drive away along the lakeshore from the summit venue of Evian-les-Bains in the French Alps.
Asked when the text of the memorandum would be made public, Trump said: “Probably pretty soon. I would say sometime after Friday… I think sometime in the very near future.”
According to accounts from both sides, the agreement would reopen the blockaded strait and extend a ceasefire for a 60-day negotiation period, when contentious issues such as the future of Iran’s nuclear programme are due to be decided.
The memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland.
Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route for global oil and gas supplies that Iran has effectively shut for months, would open fully on Friday, and that he had ordered the end of a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
“Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” he wrote on Sunday. On Monday, he said traffic was already resuming: “Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Oil prices fell, though shippers remained cautious, and ensuring the waterway is clear of mines could take weeks. Brent crude futures fell by about 5% on Monday , while stock markets jumped.
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