US and Iran agree peace deal

**Celia Hatton** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton. And in the early hours of Monday, the 15th of June, these are our main stories. Finally, a deal has been reached to end the US war with Iran with the announcement of a formal signing ceremony in Switzerland on Friday. But how solid is this agreement? We have analysis from our correspondents in Jerusalem and London and from the BBC Persian Service.
Also in this podcast, a game at the Football World Cup that started as a slow burn, but became a second half thriller. And the 17-year-old whose school project has come to the attention of Vladimir Putin.

**Alexander Browder** (0:45)
It's unprecedented. They've never sanctioned a high schooler before. And so it's clear that my work exposing their currency laundering schemes has touched enough.

**Celia Hatton** (1:01)
We start with a triumphant social media post from Donald Trump. Let the oil flow, he wrote. He then tells ships of the world to start your engines. The US and Iran have confirmed they've agreed to a deal to end their conflict that began just over three months ago. The text of what's been agreed hasn't officially been released, but both sides have indicated they'll lift their blockades on the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could allow ships to pass through it again.
Representatives from both countries are scheduled to meet in Switzerland for a formal signing ceremony on Friday. On state TV, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Qazem Garibabadi, had this to say after the text had been finalized.

**Qazem Garibabadi** (1:46)
Two immediate developments were supposed to take place and will take place, starting last night on the early hours of Monday.

**Joe Inwood** (1:54)
First, the immediate and permanent end of the war and military operations on various fronts, including in Lebanon.

**Qazem Garibabadi** (2:01)
As you saw, the statement announced by the Prime Minister of Pakistan explicitly referred to the immediate and permanent end of the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. The second development was the lifting and the end of the naval blockade that the United States had imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was also announced by the US. President in his statement. This memorandum of understanding was reached despite our complete distrust of our enemies. We have no trust in the enemy.
Our trust lies in our military strength, our diplomatic capabilities, and the support and unity of our own people. That is why the implementation of this memorandum of understanding is extremely important. We have specific plans in place to monitor the implementation of US commitments under this memorandum.

**Celia Hatton** (2:52)
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, he mentioned there the Pakistani Prime Minister. Pakistan has acted as one of the main mediators to end the conflict.
That mediation role looks set to continue as this agreement sets out a framework for a further 60 days of talks to hammer out some of the more complicated issues on the table, including details on the possible lifting of sanctions and the future of Iran's nuclear program. Our Middle East analyst, Sebastian Usher, joined us from Jerusalem shortly after the agreement was announced.

**Sebastian Usher** (3:22)
Interestingly, what the Pakistani Prime Minister says is that both sides have declared, this is quoting it directly, the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Now, that is a big step. It was the situation in Lebanon that again, almost derailed this at the last moment. When Israel bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, that was following the infiltration in northern Israel by several rockets from Hezbollah.
That looked for several hours like it was going to spoil President Trump's hopes that the deal would be done and would be able to be announced on his 80th birthday. Well, he has succeeded in that. But this idea that the war in Lebanon that Israel is waging against Hezbollah will come to an end, I think that's something which will take a bit of unpacking.

**Celia Hatton** (4:15)
Sebastian, you're speaking to us from Israel. Has there been any reaction from there so far?

**Sebastian Usher** (4:21)
When we're speaking, I mean, we're speaking very shortly after this has just happened. There hasn't been a reaction so far, as I've seen. But there's a kind of mute reaction in the sense that there was an anticipation, a fear, that Iran would fire missiles overnight. That's certainly the signals that we were getting from various Iranian officials, that Israel would face punishment for that attack it carried out on the southern suburbs of Beirut, and that it was imminent.
So there was an alert, a higher state of alert that was raised. The Israeli military says that it was prepared offensively and defensively for this, and a sense that Israel was moving back into the mode of potentially being prepared both to take down those missiles as they came in with its iron dome system, but then almost certainly to launch its own wave of strikes. And that's exactly what happened this time last Sunday. So I think there will be a sigh of relief over that, because one assumes that's not now going to happen. I mean, in this extraordinary back and forth that we've had, I mean, absolutely, I mean, I think everyone has been following this, is slightly dazed by the whiplash turns. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that that attack could still be carried out. But at the moment, it looks far, far less likely.