Trump warns Iran deal 'not final' ahead of signing on Friday

**Unka Desai** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hi, I'm Uncle Desai, and at 15 Hours GMT on Wednesday the 17th of June, these are our main stories. As the first tankers move through the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump warns that the Iran deal is not final. The FBI says five men have been arrested in connection with an alleged attempted drone attack plot, targeting Sunday's mixed martial arts event at the White House. And SpaceX overtakes Amazon as the world's fifth most valuable company.
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As the G7 Summit in Evian wraps up, leaders have hailed the US-Iran deal as a historic opportunity to end the Middle East War. And there have been signs that the US blockade of Iranian ships, which was launched after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, is easing. Three Iranian oil tankers have now passed through the blockade, although as many as 600 vessels are still stranded. The International Chamber of Shipping represents the world's national ship owner associations and over 80% of the world merchant fleet. John Staubpert is the Marine Director. So how long will it take before things return to normal?

**John Staubpert** (1:36)
Obviously firstly we need a meaningful peace deal that is respected by all sides. Then there needs to be mine clearance in the traffic separation scheme to remove the threat of mines. Confidence will need to return to the ships that are stuck there and that will vary depending on the company and the threats that they could potentially face.
And I think we will also need to see, at least in the early stages of any returns transiting, really a coordinated effort. There are currently about four different ideas on the table with different supporters from the IMO to the US, France and Europe. Looking at ways to open those straits, that needs to cohere into a single understandable plan and industry needs to be involved in that planning.

**Unka Desai** (2:22)
The memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran is due to be signed in Switzerland on Friday. President Trump was asked if the one and a half page text that has not yet been published was now final.

**Donald Trump** (2:34)
No, it's not final. It's a memorandum of understanding. And if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head. If I don't like it, if they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head. OK, because they misbehave for 47 years.

**Unka Desai** (2:55)
So what do we know about its contents? I asked our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams.

**Paul Adams** (3:00)
I think it's worth emphasising that we don't yet know the true text of the memorandum that is due to be signed at the ceremony on Friday, but that there are now versions of this floating around, being reported by numerous news organisations and all essentially reporting the same document. And it is much as expected that the US will immediately lift its blockade of Iranian ports, restore traffic from Iranian ports within 30 days, that the Iranians, for their part, will also take steps immediately to ensure that the movement of merchant ships is resumed, obviously taking account of the possibility of there being mines and other things to deal with in the Strait of Hormuz, and that various other things will happen as the process unfolds. The US, for example, will issue waivers allowing Iran to export its oil, and it'll do that immediately. And as the talks progress, we will also see the unfreezing of billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets. So, there seem to be quite a lot of carats for Iran in this text that we're looking at. When it comes to the all-important question of Iran's nuclear program, there is one quite general commitment, which is, and I'm quoting, and again, I should emphasize, we don't know if this is the final wording, that Iran reiterates that it will never produce a nuclear weapon. Now, that basically means Iran will say, as it has said many times in the past, that it does not intend to develop a nuclear weapon. That doesn't really represent anything very new.
Clearly, the detail regarding Iran's nuclear program will be a big, big focus of these negotiations, which are due to last for 60 days, but that that timetable is extendable by mutual consent. So it's a little open-ended.