Middle East crisis live: Tehran says it will charge ships in strait of Hormuz after 60 days; US-Iran presidents sign peace deal

Chief Iranian negotiator says key waterway will ‘not return to prewar conditions’ after 60-day window; both sides sign memorandum of understanding extending truce

• Reaction: Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity

• Analysis: Trump’s Iran deal is result of unrealistic ambitions for an untenable war

Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

The US and Iran have released the text of an interim agreement their presidents have signed to end their war, but Donald Trump has threatening to resume attacks and kill Iranian officials if Tehran fails to honour its commitments.

Iran’s leaders did not address the new threats while celebrating the deal, with Ghalibaf saying on state television: “Everything we sought to achieve through military action, we obtained several times over through negotiation; ⁠it was not even comparable.” The deal included the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets, he claimed.

Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian both digitally signed the memorandum of understanding in English and Farsi, ‌US and Iranian officials said. Iran’s foreign ministry said the agreement was already in effect as of Wednesday, as did mediator Pakistan.

Under the agreement Iran also undertakes not to build nuclear weapons, reaffirming a vow it had made for decades. It also agreed to an on-site “down-blending” of its stockpile of enriched uranium.

Trump signed just before a grand dinner with French president Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, the site of the signing of the treaty that formally ended the first world war. G7 leaders hailed the agreement at their summit in France. The US has said a formal signing ceremony for the deal is due to be held in Switzerland on Friday.

Oil prices fell again on Wednesday on prospects for the reopening of the Hormuz strait, with Brent crude futures below $80 – their lowest level since the war’s start – but later regaining more than 1% after Trump threatened renewed violence. After the signing US crude dipped 1.25% to $75.83 a barrel and Brent crude was down 1.4% to $78.41 a barrel.

Donald Trump entered the war with maximalist goals and exits it with a pragmatic decision to end the conflict despite the political cost, Andrew Roth writes in this analysis.
With news agencies

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