{"id":505681,"date":"2026-06-18T07:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505681\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T07:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:39:11","slug":"trump-signs-iran-peace-plan-claiming-deal-averts-worldwide-depression-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505681\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump signs Iran peace plan, claiming deal averts \u2018worldwide depression\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a> has signed a 14-point agreement <\/a>with Iran<\/a>, claiming it delivered a \u201cmajor win\u201d for the United States <\/a>\u2013 even as it made significant political and financial concessions to Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent a \u201cworldwide depression\u201d.<\/p>\n

In remarks on Wednesday, the US president went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks<\/a> to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use, that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was \u201cgoing to have to give back\u201d billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.<\/p>\n

Those remarks, as well as the full text of the agreement \u2013 which was hailed by the Hizbullah<\/a> chief, Naim Qassem, as a \u201cgreat victory\u201d \u2013 are likely to fuel anger in Israel <\/a>and among hardliners in the Republican Party who had urged Trump not to make a deal with Tehran.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What\u2019s in the US-Iran deal? Reopening shipping, waiving oil sanctions and LebanonOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, signed the agreement on Wednesday from Tehran. The US vice-president, JD Vance, is also expected to sign the deal at a more formal ceremony in Geneva on Friday.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: \u201cThe agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defending the deal, Trump said no US president had ever been as tough on Iran as him, and \u201cthere is nothing as smart as the market \u2013 and the market loves it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump said \u201cthe alternative would be a worldwide depression\u201d, arguing that if he had not struck a deal, \u201cthe strait [of Hormuz] would never have been opened. They don\u2019t like floating billion-dollar ships up and down the strait when their rockets are flying overhead and there are mines all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior administration officials said the deal would help prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, pointing to an agreement to discuss down-blending its 440kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be further enriched for use in a nuclear weapon. <\/p>\n

Trump has said he was open to the stockpile being diluted inside Iran under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration had delayed the release of the full text of the memorandum of understanding, which is essentially a 60-day ceasefire agreement, in order to hold more comprehensive nuclear and permanent peace talks with Iran. <\/p>\n

The 14-point plan was dictated to journalists during a background briefing by senior administration officials as Trump spoke at the end of the G7.<\/p>\n

The deal would provide important financial incentives to Iran, including the immediate lifting of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and the issuance of waivers for Iranian crude oil to be shipped abroad, as well as the potential lifting of all international sanctions against Iran, the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets, and plans to develop a $300 billion (\u20ac260 billion) reconstruction fund for Iran funded by regional partners in the Gulf.<\/p>\n

\"TankersTankers and cargo vessels in the Gulf of Oman, along shipping routes linking the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea. Photograph: AP <\/p>\n

Trump angrily rejected suggestions that the US would be contributing to the $300 billion fund, instead saying payouts by Gulf states were likely to be conditional on Iran\u2019s good behaviour.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who wants to can invest. What do you expect me to say: no one is allowed to invest? But we\u2019re not investing; we\u2019re not putting up even 10 cents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire deal included Lebanon<\/a>, a key Iranian demand, which would restrain Israel from conducting military operations in the country, according to a senior administration official.<\/p>\n

It also included a clause ensuring the \u201cterritorial integrity\u201d of Lebanon, although an administration official when asked did not confirm that meant Israel would be forced to withdraw from the swathe of the country it has occupied as a \u201cbuffer zone\u201d against Hizbullah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In return, Iran would agree to restrain its foreign allies including Hizbullah<\/a> in Lebanon, and \u201creaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Macron\u2019s Versailles charm offensive secures Trump boost for G7Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The agreement would also allow the toll-free passage of ships for 60 days through the strait of Hormuz, but on Wednesday Ghalibaf said Iran would charge ships travelling through the waterway at the end of the period stipulated in the memorandum of understanding.<\/p>\n

In an interview aired on state television, the Iran negotiator said the \u201cStrait of Hormuz will not return to pre-war conditions\u201d, adding: \u201cIran has the right to sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and of course we will receive a fee for services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump backed a G7 leaders\u2019 joint statement that welcomed the deal but said a follow-on agreement was necessary to rein in Iran\u2019s ballistic missile programme, an issue not directly addressed in the memorandum of understanding.<\/p>\n

\"FrenchFrench president Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media after US president Donald Trump departs from the Palace of Versailles. Photograph: Michel Euler\/EPA <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to have some, because other people have some. You got to have some,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat am I going to do? Am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can\u2019t have them?\u201d he added, referring to previous discussions with advisers on Iran\u2019s missile arsenal.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s president, Emmanuel Macron<\/a>, called it a \u201cvery good deal\u201d, adding that US allies in the G7 support it \u201cbecause it\u2019s an agreement that puts a stop to a situation of great instability that had terrible consequences for our economies\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the G7 proposal for further talks involving European leaders about Iran\u2019s ballistic missiles and support for proxy forces is certain to be rejected by Iran. Tehran has been negotiating exclusively with the US and regards Europe as largely irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Iran is also likely to reject France and Britain\u2019s plan for a taskforce to escort ships through the strait, a proposal endorsed in the G7 leaders\u2019 statement.<\/p>\n

The G7 leaders said the agreement provided \u201ca historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon and tackling the threats related to its regional and ballistic activities. We support and are ready to contribute to its implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also sounded a conciliatory note on returning frozen assets to Iran, a stipulation of the Obama administration\u2019s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that he had attacked in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken a lot of their money,\u201d Trump told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s not our money, it\u2019s their money, and we froze it at a certain point in time. I guess we\u2019re going to have to give it back, you know, if we didn\u2019t give it back, nobody would ever invest in the dollar again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump claimed the price of a barrel of oil had fallen to $72 \u2013 Brent crude dipped below $80 on Tuesday \u2013 and would soon fall below the level it had been at before the war. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a \u201cmajor win\u201d for the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,123265,11829,3410,14396,43,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":["post-505681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-hizbullah","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}