The United States and Iran have remotely signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war and opening the Strait of Hormuz, two U.S. officials told Axios, and the agreement is now in effect. An official said President Trump personally signed the agreement.
The signing ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in Switzerland on Friday, but a diplomat from the mediating country and another person familiar with the matter told Axios earlier on Wednesday that the two sides had discussed signing and implementing the agreement earlier.
The diplomatic source said discussions to speed up the timetable were aimed at opening the strait as early as Friday as both sides were on the same page on the issue. Another factor may be political pressure on the White House to release the text of the memo. People familiar with the matter claimed that it was Iran that demanded that the text not be released before it was officially signed, and denied that the White House was responding to political pressure. After days of confusion over the terms of the deal, a senior administration official read it to reporters during a briefing call on Wednesday.
In addition, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that the two sides have agreed that the memorandum should be signed electronically by the presidents of the two countries.
Sources said that a follow-up meeting between Vice President Vance and the US-Iran delegation led by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is still expected to be held as scheduled in Switzerland on Friday. The two sides are expected to discuss launching negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme.
A senior administration official told reporters the agreement was electronically signed by Trump, Vance and Ghalibaf on Sunday. Diplomatic sources claimed that no such signing had taken place. People familiar with the matter insisted that it was indeed true and that this was a "secondary signing." It's unclear why two signatures were needed. Trump signed the document on Wednesday during a dinner with President Emmanuel Macron in France.