**Dan Senor** (0:00)
As events accelerate in the Middle East, the team here at Ark Media is increasing our coverage. More conversations, more context, more time spent trying to help make sense of what's happening.
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:42)
You are listening to an Ark Media podcast.
**Amit Segal** (0:47)
What Netanyahu has been trying to say to President Trump was, look, do whatever you think in Iran. We have different opinions, but if you believe you can bring a deal, bring it, as for Lebanon, we cannot connect those fronts because once we create the linkage, Iran won, Iran won even without firing another single shot. Because if you stop the war in Lebanon, it necessarily means that they can actually rearm again. And we are back on October 6 when we see them getting more weapons, more training, and we can do nothing because we're subject to an agreement approved by the Security Council and the White House.
**Dan Senor** (1:40)
It's 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17th here in New York City. It's 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17th in Israel, as Israelis wind down their day.
Yesterday, Tuesday, President Trump and Vice President Vance virtually signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding, brokered in Islamabad, of all places, to end a war that began when American and Israeli jets struck Iranian targets on February 28th of this year.
We're going to dive in to some of the details of this understanding, but I'll just tick off the key points here. One, an immediate permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, no hostile action between the parties or their allies. Two, no interference in each other's internal affairs. Three, 60 days to negotiate a final agreement, extendable by mutual consent beyond the 60 days. But that is the key point, that this is not a final agreement. It is an interim agreement that allows for 60 days to negotiate a comprehensive agreement. Four, Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days, including clearing mines and other technical obstacles. Five, US forces withdraw from the area within 30 days of the final agreement. Six, US and regional partners commit to a $300 billion rehabilitation and economic development plan for Iran, although that sounds like it would not be implemented until there's a final agreement. Seven, US commits to lifting all sanctions on a schedule to be agreed in the final deal. Eight, Iran reiterates it will never produce nuclear weapons. The fate of enriched material and other nuclear issues to be resolved in the final agreement. Nine, Iran freezes its nuclear program until a final deal, and the US adds no new sanctions and no new forces in the region. Ten, immediate US. Treasury waivers for Iranian oil, petrochemicals and banking. Eleven, frozen Iranian assets will be released and made fully available to Iran's central bank.
Twelve, a compliance mechanism will be established in the final agreement. Thirteen, detailed negotiations on remaining articles begin only after economic pressures are lifted. And fourteen, the final agreement would be ratified by a binding UN Security Council resolution.
With Israeli elections coming in just a few months, the question that is hanging over all of Israeli politics right now is a simple and brutal one. What exactly did this war accomplish and who gets the credit or the blame?
After more than two and a half years, Israelis are moving from survival to rebuilding. Here in the US, Jewish college students have been carrying their own weight. For years now, they have faced peer pressure and a constant stream of anti-Israel misinformation on campus, online and everywhere they turn. They can keep arguing about Israel from thousands of miles away or they can do the one thing that actually works. Go on a birthright trip and experience Israel for themselves. They will come back more grounded, more confident and more connected to who they are. So if you've been waiting for the right moment to donate, this is it, because Israel needs them and they need Israel. Go to onetripchangeseverything.com and make a gift today. Birthright, one trip changes everything.
With me to unpack all of this at this historic moment is Ark Media contributor and Channel 12 political analyst and Israel HaYom columnist, Amit Segal.
Amit.
**Amit Segal** (5:15)
Hi Dan.
**Dan Senor** (5:15)
I cannot begin to describe the pressure campaign we have been subjected to to release an emergency episode. We didn't want to find ourselves spending the whole episode speculating what's in this memorandum of understanding, but I think now we know what's in this memorandum of understanding.
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