U.S. and Iran sign an initial peace deal – now the challenge begins
6/19/202626 min
The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding this week to end the war, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The 14-paragraph agreement lays out the stipulations for each side – including that all military operations between the U.S., Iran and their allies will stop, that the U.S. will lift all sanctions against Iran, and Iran will allow vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
But Thomas Juneau, professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, says this initial agreement was actually the easy part. Now comes the difficult task of sorting out the specifics around issues the two sides have disagreed on for decades.
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First 90 secondsCheryl Sutherland· Host0:00
[gentle music] This week, US President Donald Trump signed the initial agreement with Iran to end the war. The memorandum of understanding, at least the draft read out to journalists this week, has just 14 paragraphs. Let me give you a snapshot of what's in it. The US, Iran, and their allies will stop all military operations. The US will begin removing its naval blockade against Iran, and Iran will allow the commercial traffic of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The US will end all sanctions against Iran, and in exchange, Iran will dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. Now that the agreement is signed, the clock starts on 60 days of negotiations to work out the details of the final peace deal. So today, Thomas Juneau is back on the show. He's a professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, and an expert on Iran. He'll tell us what we can expect from the next two months of negotiations, why these economic measures and the nuclear program are such points of pressure, and what the MOU means for the prospect of an actual end to the war. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. Hi, Thomas. Welcome back to The Decibel.