US Vice President JD Vance will head the American delegation for the formal signing of the peace agreement with Iran in Switzerland on Friday, President Donald Trump has announced. Speaking to reporters in France on Monday, Trump said Vance would represent the United States at the ceremony. When asked whether he would attend the event himself, the president replied: “I may be involved, I may not.”
According to a senior US official cited by The New York Times, Trump, Vance and Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf have already electronically signed the framework agreement. The official said the full Memorandum of Understanding is expected to be released after the signing ceremony.
Trump also indicated that the text of the agreement would become public soon. “Pretty soon… sometime after Friday,” he said.
In separate media appearances, Vance confirmed that the agreement had been digitally signed on Sunday and suggested that the complete document would likely be published later this week.
“We already signed the deal digitally yesterday (Sunday),” Vance said on the Good Morning America programme on ABC News.
Efforts on to restore normal shipping at Hormuz
The senior US official said efforts were underway to restore normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Under the terms of the understanding, the waterway is expected to be fully reopened by Friday, with large oil and gas tankers receiving priority passage to speed up the movement of energy supplies.
“Just to be clear here, it takes a little bit of time, because you know you have mines in the Straits. But you will see a significant increase in traffic in the Strait of Hormuz actually starting already, and that will ramp up slowly over time to the point where I think a week from now, two weeks from now, we probably won’t return to normal in two weeks, but we will see a significant increase in Strait traffic,” the official said.
The official added that the memorandum guarantees toll-free passage through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, with the provision expected to remain part of a final agreement.
Located between Iran and Oman, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most strategically important maritime routes. A large share of global oil and liquefied natural gas exports passes through the narrow waterway, making it a crucial link in international energy trade.
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