Strait of Hormuz will reopen says Trump

**Usha Desai** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Uncle Desai and at 14 Hours GMT on Monday the 16th of June, these are our main stories. We've got the latest from the Middle East, as both the US and Iran try to portray a newly announced framework deal to end the war as a victory for their side. A Russian airstrike has caused major damage to a thousand-year-old monastery in Kyiv. And Britain has announced plans to ban under-16s from using social media, and it's expected to come into force by spring of next year. The devil is going to be in the detail of how this actually happens, but I think, yeah, well done. Thank you.
Also in this podcast, the stepson of Norway's crown prince has been found guilty of rape and sentenced to four years in prison. And Starbucks staff in South Korea will attend a history lesson and shut stores following a public outcry over a marketing stunt.
After nearly four months of on and off again fighting, the US and Iran say they've reached a deal to halt their war. Both sides say they've agreed a framework for peace, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the ceasing of all military activities, including in Lebanon. Countries across the world have welcomed the news. The UK, France, Germany and Italy released a joint statement praising the end to hostilities, but stressed that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon. Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and Egypt all welcome the agreement. I spoke to our correspondent in Jerusalem, John Donnison, about the contents of the peace deal, which is due to be signed on Friday.

**John Donnison** (1:47)
It has very little detail other than to say the key issue, I think, for the Americans is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. They will lift their blockade of Iranian ports and Iran will allow shipping to pass. But that in itself could take 30 days to really start flowing, because of course you've got to clear mines that have been laid in the straits. And then what we're going to have is over the next 60 days, there is then this two month period to really get into the nitty gritty of the difficult issues, in particular Iran's nuclear program, what's going to happen to Iran's enriched uranium. So we haven't really thrashed that out yet. So while this is a sort of positive step, we're not there yet, I don't think.

**Usha Desai** (2:37)
It could be described that Israel is a wild card in this deal. Can they be trusted to abide by the rules of the agreement, particularly with the clause that states that military operations must cease in Lebanon?

**John Donnison** (2:48)
Israel is going along with this, but reluctantly, it's been dragged kicking and screaming really to go along with this deal under pressure from its main ally, the United States. We had President Trump in an interview with the New York Times overnight saying that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister here, was, as he called him, a very difficult guy. So I don't think US-Israel relations are great at the moment. And I think crucially, we're going to have to see what happens in Lebanon. Will the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon, will that stop?
Because Israel is giving no signs that it's ready to pull out its forces, which are occupying a large chunk of southern Lebanon. It is saying it's going to maintain its operations there.

**Usha Desai** (3:36)
And because it's been such an uncertain time for so many weeks and months, it's going to be difficult to forecast whether this deal will hold. It feels as though this can still change in the coming days before that agreement is signed on Friday.

**John Donnison** (3:49)
It could do. I mean, I don't think Israel is going to go against what President Trump clearly wants in the next five days. But you're right, over the next two months, it isn't a done deal yet. And the truth is that we are basically back to the status quo before this war started. And when you think back to the initial war aims, we had President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu saying that one of the aims was regime change in Iran. Well, that hasn't happened.
We haven't got rid of Iran's ballistic missile program. There's no mention of that in this memorandum of understanding. So then you get to the point where you say, well, look, if nothing really significant has changed, billions and billions of dollars have been spent on this war. It's caused huge damage to the global economy. Thousands of lives have been lost. But if nothing, those war aims haven't been achieved, you do have to ask, well, you know, what was the point of the war in the first place?