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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The United States and Iran reached an initial agreement Monday that would extend their shaky ceasefire and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but significant challenges remain to ending the war, including whether Israel will continue its offensive in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Details of the deal have not been made public. The U.S. said it was signed electronically on Sunday but that it will not be implemented until a formal signing. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key mediator, said that will happen Friday in Geneva. Even if the strait \u2014 a crucial waterway for the world\u2019s oil and natural gas \u2014 fully opens then, it will likely take months for the global energy crisis sparked by its closure to ease.<\/p>\n
Israel joined the U.S. in launching the war on Feb. 28, but it is not party to the deal. The Israeli defense minister said Monday that the country would not withdraw from land seized in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.<\/p>\n
A spokesman in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said Israel will continue to defend itself against any threat to its security. That alone could scuttle the deal, since Iran has insisted any agreement to end the war include an end to the fighting in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
The agreement also faces other major challenges. It gives just 60 days to decide what to do about Iran\u2019s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and its nuclear program \u2014 which the U.S. and Israel worry could be used to build an atomic weapon, despite Tehran\u2019s insistence that the program is peaceful. It took years for Iran and world powers to negotiate a 2015 agreement to rein in Tehran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from that accord in his first term, setting the stage for the tensions that culminated in the current war, which has killed thousands across the Middle East, including the top leaders of Iran\u2019s theocracy, and raised the prices of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the region.
\nThe Strait of Hormuz won\u2019t open until the deal is signed<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Early in the war, Iranian attacks on ships brought traffic in the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and natural gas passed before the conflict \u2014 to a near standstill. Trump implemented a blockade in response.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran would not start implementing the agreement until after the signing ceremony. The U.S. military said the blockade will remain in place \u201cpending execution\u201d of the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not attempt to cross until explicit direction is given,\u201d it said Monday in an advisory to merchant ships.<\/p>\n
Trump, who faced pressure to end the war ahead of congressional midterm elections in November, said that \u201ca lot of great things are going to happen in the Middle East right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVery importantly, the oil is plummeting down, and the stock market is shooting up like a rocket today,\u201d he said Monday at the G7 summit in France.<\/p>\n
While the agreement provides for the \u201cimmediate\u201d opening of the strait and lifting of the blockade, the process will take time because there are mines in the strait, and ships are unwilling to risk traversing it, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement.
\nDetails remain scant but expected soon<\/p>\n
A second senior U.S. official told reporters that details of the agreement would be released within the next two days.<\/p>\n
The memorandum of understanding includes the possibility of releasing Iran\u2019s frozen funds, easing sanctions and creating a $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran \u2014 all of which would be tied to Iran meeting benchmarks, the official said.<\/p>\n
The officials said technical talks would begin on Friday after the signing ceremony and that Vice President JD Vance would lead negotiations for the U.S.
\nIsrael says it won\u2019t withdraw from Lebanon<\/p>\n
The success of the deal rests at least partially on what happens between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel\u2019s bombing of Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs on Sunday nearly derailed the negotiations, and a previous attack led Iran to fire on Israel and Israel to fire back.<\/p>\n
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel plans to stay \u201cindefinitely\u201d in land it holds in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. He also threatened that if Iran attacks Israel over its strikes in Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran with \u201cgreat force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked where Israel stands on the deal, David Mencer, a spokesman in Netanyahu\u2019s office, told The Associated Press that Israel and the U.S. remain fully aligned on preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But he added that Israel will not tolerate attacks from Hezbollah on its territory.<\/p>\n
Israel and the U.S. began the war apparently in lockstep, but the war has created deep fractures in that close relationship, with Trump eager to end a conflict that is deeply unpopular with the American public and Netanyahu intent on destroying Hezbollah. Trump appears to have grown increasingly frustrated with the Israeli leader, even occasionally publicly insulting him, including telling The New York Times on Sunday that he was a \u201cvery difficult guy.\u201d
\nMany Lebanese travel to check on homes<\/p>\n
In a sign of the deal\u2019s fragility, the Lebanese army called on residents not to rush to return to border villages, saying they should follow military instructions because of the danger of \u201cIsraeli violations and aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many Lebanese who had fled following Israeli evacuation orders and intense fighting were heading south, however, to check on their homes. Celine Fayad, driving south, said she will test how far she could go. Her village, Aitaroun, is along the border with Israel. It was among the first to be occupied and lies in ruins.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were expecting to return,\u201d she said. \u201cThanks to Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali Haidar was among the first to return to Nabatiyeh, the southern city at the heart of the latest Israeli military operations, where many central buildings have been reduced to dust.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis used to be our home, our childhood home where we have all of our memories. This is where we grew up. Now it\u2019s gone,\u201d Haidar said. \u201cWe will return to rubble and sand. It\u2019s better than being displaced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, meanwhile, credited Iran with a \u201cmajor achievement\u201d in reaching the agreement, which it said could lead to \u201cthe full liberation of our land, the return of our prisoners to their homeland and families,\u201d and reconstruction of war-devastated areas.<\/p>\n
Along with praising the deal, the militant group said it was committed to resisting Israel \u201cuntil full withdrawal is achieved.\u201d
\nWorld leaders welcome the deal<\/p>\n
Despite the uncertainties, world leaders from Europe to China welcomed the agreement. French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting Trump and other world leaders at a Group of Seven summit this week, said France and other Western partners are \u201cready to take action very quickly\u201d to help restore normal shipping traffic in the strait once the U.S. and Iran agree to such a mission.<\/p>\n
Others have expressed caution that the deal remains tentative. Luxembourg\u2019s foreign minister, Xavier Bettel, noted: \u201cIt\u2019s a long time till Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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