For the 39th time this year, Donald Trump took to social media on June 14 to announce that the U.S. and Iran were close to finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to end the U.S. war against Iran that was launched with Israel on Feb. 28. The MOU, scheduled to be signed in Geneva, Switzerland on June 19, will extend a ceasefire for another 60 days, during which time all sides will negotiate the details of a final agreement to permanently end the conflict.
Although the specific framework of the deal has not been made public, Iranian and U.S. officials have leaked conflicting accounts of what’s in the agreement. Those points include the U.S. lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports, in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz to global commercial traffic. While Iran says the U.S. will end economic sanctions and release $24 billion to $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets during the 60-day negotiation window, the U.S. says those outcomes depend on Iran’s agreement to restrict its nuclear program, limit its missile arsenal and curb support for regional allied militia groups.
Iranian officials maintain that the peace deal with the U.S. requires Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, where it occupies 20 percent of the country, after it launched attacks against Hezbollah in March that have killed more than 3,000 people. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Here she examines what we know about the agreement framework to extend peace talks by 60 days.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Jennifer Loewenstein (16:42) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the related links section of this page. To subscribe to our podcasts, email newsletters, our Trump authoritarian playbook Substack or social media, subscribe here.
