Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian welcomed on Thursday what he called a ‘historic’ deal with the United States to end their war and pave the way for negotiations towards a final settlement.
‘This is a historic document and a message from a powerful Iran: peace will be achieved in the shadow of mutual respect,’ president Masoud Pezeshkian said, in a social media post showing an image of the document, which carried his signature as well as US president Donald Trump and their mediator, Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Sharif has postponed a visit to Switzerland for a US-Iran ceremony because their agreement on ending the Middle East war had been signed remotely, his spokesman said.
‘The proposed visit has been postponed as the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has already been electronically signed, has entered into force, and is now under implementation,’ spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi said, adding Pakistan would support the next phase of several ‘technical-level’ tracks.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored the importance of maintaining Israel’s close ties with the United States, saying Washington had stood ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with Israel during the war with Iran.
Trump’s deal with Iran has opened a rare breach with Republican hawks, who warn that the agreement falls far short of the sweeping victory he promised and could leave Tehran richer, stronger and still able to threaten the region.
The terms have alarmed some of the same Republicans who spent years denouncing Democratic former president Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran as dangerously weak.
They have voiced concerns that Trump is offering Iran sanctions relief, access to oil markets and the prospect of a $300 billion reconstruction fund while failing to secure firm commitments on uranium enrichment, ballistic missiles or Tehran’s support for armed proxies.
Pre-war objectives abandoned, Iran’s power bolstered, tens of billions of dollars guzzled away: US media appear unanimous in condemning Trump’s concessions to Iran.
Even Fox News, the usually Trump-friendly news channel, cited critics who said the agreement gave Iran ‘huge financial benefits’ without requiring the dismantlement of its nuclear programme.
Iran said that its missile programme would not be part of future negotiations with the United States, after the two sides agreed a framework deal for ending their war.
Trump and Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding early Thursday, ending a regional war that erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes.
The agreement lays the groundwork for detailed negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions relief for Tehran.
There is no mention in the deal of Iran’s missile programme, a longstanding concern for Washington and its ally Israel.
‘Our missiles do not like at all to be talked about by anyone,’ foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in an interview with Iranian state television.
‘Iranian missiles are only for firing, not for negotiations. Iran’s defence capability will not be discussed in any way, in any process or with any party.’
During the nearly 40-day war, Iran’s missile infrastructure came under heavy US-Israeli bombardment, but Tehran continued to respond with missile and drone attacks across the region.
Before the war, US secretary of state Marco Rubio had warned that Iran would need to negotiate over its ballistic missile arsenal, which Washington views as a threat to Israel and US military bases in the region.
Iran has repeatedly refused to discuss what it describes as its defensive capabilities.
On Wednesday, Trump appeared to soften his position, saying it would be ‘unfair’ for Iran not to have missiles.
‘I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,’ Trump said.
‘A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we are talking about when we talk nuclear.’
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed three people on Thursday, according to Lebanese state media, hours after the United States and Iran signed an agreement.
‘An enemy drone targeted a car’ in the Kfar Tebnit area, killing two people, the official National News Agency reported, raising an earlier toll of one dead.
In the neighbouring village of Zebdine, another drone killed one more person, NNA said.
Israel’s military, meanwhile, announced the death of one of its soldiers the night before in an incident in south Lebanon that also left seven others wounded.
Hezbollah said Thursday that it had defeated a four-day offensive by Israeli ground forces attempting to advance deeper into the south of the country.
In a statement issued by its operations room, Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli troops and tanks with drones, rockets and artillery and prevented their advance towards Kfar Tebnit, near Nabatieh.
Republican senator Bill Cassidy wrote on X that former president and Republican icon Ronald Reagan would be ‘rolling over in his grave,’ calling the agreement ‘the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.’
‘Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive,’ he said. ‘Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped.’
Trump has defended the deal as a practical way to reopen one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints, through which about a fifth of global crude normally passes. He said the agreement was not final and warned that the United States could resume strikes if negotiations fail.
‘It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head,’ Trump told reporters Wednesday at a Group of Seven summit in Evian, in eastern France.
Republican senator Ted Cruz warned urged Trump not to ‘suddenly come in with massive buckets of cash to let them rebuild and become a threat to America again.’
‘I don’t want to see theocratic Islamists who want to kill us made stronger. So if this deal is giving them $300 billion, that’s a mistake,’ he said.
Texas senator John Cornyn told reporters he was concerned the accord could be little more than ‘an intermission,’ leaving Iran able to rebuild its arsenal and keep enriching uranium.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune was more cautious but said lawmakers needed answers on whether the agreement addressed Iran’s nuclear programme, ballistic missiles and support for militant groups.
Senator Lindsey Graham said the deal opened the Strait of Hormuz, suspended hostilities and created space to test whether diplomacy could curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
