The United States and Iran remotely signed their memorandum of understanding to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz for the second time on Wednesday, the White House told the Washington Examiner.
“It’s signed,” Trump told reporters in France, as he climbed into a limousine taking him away from the concluding G-7 summit.
The key distinction between the two signings appears to be that the agreement electronically signed over the weekend did not include Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s signature, unlike the memorandum signed Wednesday. The signings come before the two countries were expected to ink the agreement in person during a meeting in Switzerland on Friday. It was not immediately clear why the deal was signed a second time or if the Geneva meeting would still take place.
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Vice President JD Vance said Monday that the U.S. and Iran had initially digitally signed the agreement on Sunday. Trump on Monday also confirmed that the deal had been electronically signed, during comments to reporters from the G7 summit in France. It appears that the agreement was initially signed Sunday by Trump, Vance, and Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf.
On Wednesday, the agreement was electronically signed by officials for a second time, this time by both Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president. U.S. officials told Axios that Trump signed the document while at a dinner alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, told Iranian state media that the Wednesday agreement was signed by both Trump and Pezeshkian.
After much pressure, the U.S. detailed the 14-point Iran agreement to reporters on Wednesday afternoon following criticism for not releasing the MOU’s text to the public. Anticipation had been building about the deal’s details due primarily to speculation about whether it effectively keeps Iran from enriching uranium and prevents it from building nuclear weapons.
There was mixed reaction from Congress after the text was detailed, with Republicans such as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) expressing outrage over the deal lifting sanctions on Iran and arguing it fails to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions — “Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” the Louisiana Republican wrote — while others defended it as a step in the right direction.
“It is my opinion that signing the MOU will be beneficial to the United States, in as much as the Strait of Hormuz will begin to open, and the hostilities with Iran will stop,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said. “Whether or not the United States can reach an acceptable, verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined, but I see little downside to trying.”
The agreement seeks to end the conflict, which started on Feb. 28 when the U.S. launched strikes against Iran. Washington made the decision after being told by Iranian leadership that it had enough enriched uranium to make 11 nuclear bombs within 10 days, according to Trump’s team.
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Vance said Monday that “the Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed” since the U.S. launched the conflict.
“What we’re saying is: Make the long-term commitment not to rebuild it, and you will get the benefits that come with that,” he said.