U.S. and Iran Sign Hormuz Memorandum as G7 Backs Deal With Conditions

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France, The ink was barely dry when the complications arrived.

Washington and Tehran electronically signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, formalising a 60-day extension of their ceasefire and committing both sides to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas moved before the conflict broke out on 28 February. According to Al Jazeera, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed the text had been finalised with the signatures of both presidents, quoting him as saying: "Now it is time to test the implementation of the agreement."

Trump, attending the Group of Seven summit in the French Alpine resort of Evian-les-Bains, told reporters he had put pen to paper at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris on Wednesday evening. "I signed it in Versailles," he said, according to the Al Jazeera report. The White House confirmed the signature shortly afterwards.

The deal, which NPR described as "the war's biggest diplomatic breakthrough," extends the ceasefire that has been in place, however fitfully, since early April. It calls for the U.S. to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports and for Iran to begin reopening the strait, starting with mine-clearance lanes. The text does not resolve Iran's nuclear programme; as NPR reported, that question is deferred to a second round of negotiations within the 60-day window. The U.S. has signalled willingness to ease sanctions, but only if a broader agreement on nuclear and ballistic activity is reached.

The moment was not without drama. According to Axios, Israel struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut in the hours before the expected signing, prompting Iranian threats to walk away. U.S. negotiators, together with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, scrambled to prevent Tehran from launching retaliatory strikes on Israel that could have derailed the entire framework. Iran held off. The Lebanon front remains the deal's most exposed flank: as NPR noted, Iran had made an end to Israel-Hezbollah fighting a formal condition, yet Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that Israel would keep troops in southern Lebanon indefinitely.

At the G7, European leaders received the agreement with visible relief but notable caution. Closing the three-day summit, French President Emmanuel Macron called it a "very good deal," telling reporters at his final press conference that allies support it because it "puts a stop to a situation of great instability that had terrible consequences for our economies," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking on the summit's sidelines as reported by Euronews, was more measured on the question of EU sanctions relief, saying: "We need real change on the ground before we can think about lifting them."

That condition may prove thorny. Tehran's foreign ministry indicated, according to Al Jazeera, that Iran intends to establish a new management regime for the strait together with Oman and would "charge fees for services" there. That position sits directly at odds with Washington's pledge that the waterway would be permanently toll-free, a tension that Bloomberg Television's chief Europe correspondent Oliver Crook described as producing "a mix of relief and skepticism" among G7 delegations.

For the Europeans, the Iran deal arrived alongside a separate frustration. As the U.S. under Trump cut back support for Ukraine, France and its allies have become the largest external providers of military and financial assistance to Kyiv. According to NPR, European leaders used the Evian sessions to push Ukraine back up Trump's agenda, while Macron told the closing press conference that G7 members agreed Russia had shown "no serious willingness" to make peace, a statement reported by France 24. The Council on Foreign Relations, in an analysis published Wednesday, put the broader European calculus plainly, arguing that the Evian meetings produced a moment of transatlantic alignment that is "much more brittle than it appears."

Negotiating teams are expected in Geneva on Friday. Whether the planned in-person meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials goes ahead remains, as of Wednesday evening, unconfirmed.

Sources cited:
- Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/17/iran-confirms-that-mou-has-been-signed-electronically-by-both-sides)
- NPR (https://www.npr.org/2026/06/15/nx-s1-5858590/us-iran-deal-updates)
- Axios (https://www.axios.com/2026/06/14/us-iran-ceasefire-extended-hormuz-reopen-trump)
- France 24 (https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260615-trump-to)
- Euronews (https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/15/g7-summit-leaders-set-to-arrive-in-evian-after-us-iran-ceasefire-deal)
- Philadelphia Inquirer (https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/trump-g7-summit-iran-france-india-20260617.html)
- Council on Foreign Relations (https://www.cfr.org/articles/the-g7s-alignment-on-iran-and-ukraine-is-deeply-fragile)
- Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-06-16/trump-touts-iran-deal-to-merz-meloni-and-macron-at-g7-in-evian)