The deal should bring an end to the current US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic republic, which led to shipping being greatly restricted in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a spike in energy prices.
US President Donald Trump speaks about the conflict in Iran in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP)
US President Donald Trump lashed out at critics of his agreement with Iran on Thursday, calling those who accused him of offering concessions to end the war “fools”, ahead of negotiations in Switzerland on implementing the deal.
Oil prices tumbled after Trump and his Iranian counterpart separately signed their accord to end the Middle East war, with the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, but two months of negotiations lying ahead.
In a sudden development after uncertainty over when the deal agreed earlier this week would be formally signed, Trump put his name to it in thick black ink at a candlelit dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris on Wednesday.
This combination of pictures created on June 18, 2026 shows (L)
a videograb from footage made available on June 18, 2026, from the X account of French President Emmanuel Macron showing US President Donald Trump during the signing of a deal with Iran to end the Middle East war, inside the Chateau de Versailles, in Versailles southwest of Paris on June 17, 2026 and (R) a screen grab taken from video footage broadcast by Iran’s IRINN Iranian state television network and made available via AFPTV on June 18, 2026 shows Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian holding a document showing a memorandum of understanding he signed to end the Middle East war. Photo by – / VARIOUS SOURCES / AFP
Macron — for whom the signing at the palace, which hosted the signing of the treaty that ended World War I, was an immense coup following his hosting of the G7 summit — shouted “bravo” as Trump signed.
“These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are ‘tumbling’ down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid,” Trump posted on social media hours after signing the deal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed the agreement, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, adding that “now it is time to test the implementation of the agreement”.
Crude fell more than three percent Thursday, extending the losses sustained since news of the deal broke at the weekend.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaking about the agreement reached with the United States and regional developments at a meeting with ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from foreign countries in Tehran.
‘Allows for Peace’
The deal should bring an end to the current US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic republic, which saw five weeks of all-out war until a ceasefire early April and led to shipping being greatly restricted in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a spike in energy prices.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, which helped mediate the agreement, said it “shall enter into force with immediate effect” and Iran “will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz”. He also signed the accord.
A two-month negotiating period now begins with all eyes on the reopening of Hormuz and if progress can be made in talks over Iran’s nuclear programme, which Washington has long suspected of concealing secret bomb-making ambitions.
Macron hailed the deal “which allows for peace, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, and 60 days to conclude an agreement on nuclear, ballistic, and regional activities”.
There remained confusion over the next steps, with the accord originally supposed to have been signed at an exclusive mountain-top resort in Switzerland on Friday by Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and US Vice President JD Vance.
