03b Israel

US-Iran War LIVE Updates: Protests erupted in Iran after a memorandum of understanding was reached with the US to bring peace to the Middle East region, with people calling Iranian leaders Abbas Araghchi and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf “compromisers”.

Trump said the deal will be signed by the two sides on Friday in Geneva, after which the Strait of Hormuz will be opened and operated without fees. “Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said, adding later that he did not “think we will need much help” keeping the waterway open. Iran has continued to voice its lack of trust in Washington. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said a “final agreement” will be reached within two months, deliberations over which will include aspects like the nuclear programme and Tehran’s $25 billion frozen assets.

The deal has brought differences between the US and Israel out in the open, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israeli troops would remain in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria for “as long as necessary”. He said that the military campaign against Iran had spared his country from the threat of “nuclear annihilation”. He pledged that Iran would never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, regardless of the terms of any agreement.

Tehran and Washington announced Sunday they had agreed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict, which broke out on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran and engulfed the Middle East.

“At this stage, the signing is scheduled for Friday, June 19, at Burgenstock,” Switzerland’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The US and Israel carried out their latest strikes on Iran and Lebanon in a deliberate effort to sabotage the ongoing peace talks, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson has told RT.

On Wednesday local time, the US struck Qeshm Island and targets in southern Iran in response to the crash of a US AH-64 Apache attack helicopter off the coast of Oman – an incident US President Donald Trump blamed on Iran. Tehran, however, has refused to confirm that it was responsible for the crash.

The United States bombed Iranian radar and drone control sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American MQ-1 Predator drone this weekend, the US military said on Monday.

Iran acknowledged launching a retaliatory strike, while Kuwait said it was intercepting incoming drone and missile fire.

The duelling attacks reflect the fragility of a weeks-long ceasefire in the Iran war, which has seen repeated attacks even as American and Iranian officials try to negotiate a deal to extend it.

Netanyahu was referring to a conversation between the two leaders on Saturday night, which Trump had earlier said “went very well”.

“President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely. This means dismantling Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities and removing enriched nuclear material from its territory,” Netanyahu said in a statement.