Interim US-Iran deal leaves the thorniest issue still to be negotiated: Tehran’s nuclear program.

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In mid-June 2026, after months of a devastating war, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding meant to pause the fighting and open the door to a lasting peace. But buried inside the celebratory language was an uncomfortable truth: the single issue that started the war in the first place (Iran’s nuclear program) has not actually been solved. It has simply been postponed.

On Wednesday, June 17, 2026, President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 14-point memorandum at the Palace of Versailles, with French President Emmanuel Macron publishing video of the signing. According to NBC News, the agreement declares an intent to bring about an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations” in the war that began on February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Under the deal, Washington agreed to lift sanctions, unfreeze billions in Iranian assets, and allow the Strait of Hormuz (through which roughly a fifth of the World’s oil once flowed) to reopen to commercial ships. In exchange, Iran “reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons”, language nearly identical to promises Tehran made in the original 2015 nuclear accord, as the Washington Post points out. Crucially, the deal starts a 60-day negotiating window specifically to hash out the future of Iran’s uranium stockpile; the hardest part was left for later.

The war itself killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials, according to a timeline from the Washington Times, and drew in Israel, Lebanon and Gulf States whose waters and shipping lanes were caught in the crossfire. At stake for ordinary people are the lives of Iranian civilians, Israeli and Lebanese communities under fire, and thousands of sailors and oil workers stuck waiting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The root cause goes back further: Trump has long insisted Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon, and international inspectors believe Iran is sitting on roughly 900 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity (a short technical step from the 90% needed for a bomb, according to CBS News).

Reactions have been mixed. G7 leaders meeting in Evian-les-Bains, France, backed the agreement, calling it, in a joint declaration reported by NBC News, a “historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon”. The head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, confirmed his inspectors would soon visit Iran’s enrichment sites, calling it essential even if it takes “a day after tomorrow or in one week or in ten days”, as he told CBS News. Yet skepticism remains widespread: the National Iranian American Council warned the deal faces “determined opposition from Israel, hardliners in Washington, and a vocal faction of Iranian conservatives”, while former President Barack Obama said he doubted any new deal would look much different from the one Trump previously scrapped. With the 60-day clock running and Vice President JD Vance already holding tense talks in Switzerland, the world is watching to see whether diplomacy can finish what the ceasefire only began.

written by Clarissa Battistella