Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei revealed on Thursday that he personally authorized the memorandum of understanding signed by the Iranian and US presidents, despite harboring a fundamentally different view, after securing firm commitments from President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior officials that Iran’s rights and the interests of the Resistance Front would be safeguarded.
In a written message addressed to the Iranian nation, Khamenei stated that Pezeshkian, acting in his capacity as head of the Supreme National Security Council, had accepted full responsibility for ensuring the agreement protected Iran’s interests. The president also pledged not to yield if Washington made what Khamenei described as excessive demands.
The Supreme Leader further emphasized that upcoming face-to-face negotiations with the United States would not equate to accepting “the enemy’s position.”
A Delicate Path to Wider Talks
>The signing of the deal by Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian set in motion a 60-day period for negotiations on broader issues between the two adversaries, including the highly sensitive Iranian nuclear program. However, significant uncertainty clouds the next steps. It remained unclear whether both sides, who have lacked diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic revolution, would proceed with a planned signing ceremony and talks in Switzerland on Friday.
Oil prices tumbled following the announcement of the agreement, though activity in the Strait of Hormuz—the strategic chokepoint for global energy shipments that Iran blockaded during the conflict—remained muted. Under the terms of the deal, the strait should reopen immediately.
A New Leader’s Cautious Endorsement
Mojtaba Khamenei ascended to the position of supreme leader after his father, longtime ruler Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28. In his statement, the younger Khamenei acknowledged he had approved the deal despite holding a “different view,” without elaborating further.
“But I issued my permission due to the commitment” made by officials including Pezeshkian to “protect the rights of the Iranian nation,” he wrote. This approach echoes his father’s pattern of allowing negotiations to proceed without personally endorsing them. The new supreme leader, reportedly wounded in an airstrike, has yet to appear in public. His father’s funeral ceremonies, scheduled for early July, will be closely scrutinized for signs of new ruler’s presence and authority.
Naval Blockade Lifted, But Skepticism Lingers
American forces lifted their naval blockade of Iranian ports earlier on Thursday, the US military confirmed, noting that warships will remain in the general area. Three Saudi oil tankers departed the Gulf through the strait, while the French liquefied natural gas vessel Mraikh became the first such ship to make the transit since the conflict began.
Iranian state TV, citing the Supreme National Security Council, announced that ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz must submit their requests to a new government body overseeing the waterway. In accordance with the deal, no fees will be collected from applicants for a period of sixty days.
US Vice President JD Vance indicated plans to travel to Switzerland for “technical negotiations” with Iran this weekend, though he stressed the schedule could change. In Iran, the Tasnim agency reported that nothing had been confirmed regarding the delegation’s trip.
The agreement aims to end the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which saw five weeks of all-out war before a ceasefire took hold in early April. Yet a mood of pessimism persists in Tehran. “I have no hope that this is a lasting agreement. Maybe after the 60 days they start fighting again,” said Mina, a 54-year-old psychologist. French President Emmanuel Macron echoed this skepticism, stating he did not believe the war was “totally finished.”
Sanctions Relief and Reconstruction Fund
Under the text of the memorandum, Washington commits to immediately waiving oil sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. Once a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program is reached, the United States will facilitate the release of a $300 billion reconstruction fund supported by regional nations.
Trump’s decision to end the war—during which 13 US service members were killed and a vast proportion of American ammunition stockpiles was consumed—has unsettled some allies at home. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy called it the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” arguing that Iran’s nuclear ambitions remained uncurbed and that Tehran had learned threatening the Strait of Hormuz works. Trump, anticipating such criticism, declared at a G7 summit that he was prepared to “bomb the hell” out of Iran if the agreement was violated, later describing critics as “fools” and the deal as a “Victory.”
Within Iran, hardliners have also voiced criticism, comparing the conflict to the 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. However, Parliament Speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf insisted the deal represented a US “failure,” while Pezeshkian called it “historic.”
Agnes Lavallois, president of France’s Institute for Research and Studies on the Mediterranean and the Middle East, summarized the prevailing sentiment: “The feeling was that the Americans wanted just one thing—the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.”
