U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday hailed a newly signed agreement with Iran as a major step towards easing tensions in the Middle East, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in the French resort town of Evian, the two leaders said the agreement could help stabilise global energy markets and build momentum to address other regional conflicts. "I think yesterday was a very important agreement, a peace deal with Iran," Macron said at the start of the bilateral meeting.
"It will fix the nuclear issue first, it will fix the nuclear issue, and it's a very important matter for peace, for the whole world." Macron described the agreement as an important development for regional stability and said it could also contribute to peace efforts in Lebanon.
"It will provide peace in Lebanon, and so we are ready to take our fair share of the burden and be part of the commitment of the international community in order to support this deal," he said. Trump said the agreement was already producing results, with commercial shipping beginning to move again through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical oil transit routes.
"The deal is all signed, and the Strait is already partially opened," Trump said. "Ships are starting to go out now. On Friday, it'll be completely opened." The President said the agreement had been reached with what he described as a new leadership group in Iran.
"We found the third set to be very smart, strong, but we ended up making a deal," Trump said. He reiterated that the central objective of the agreement was to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
They fully agreed to that with strong policing powers, and they won't have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. Trump also argued that easing tensions in the Gulf was already affecting global markets. "I think a lot of great things are going to happen in the Middle East right now, and very importantly, the oil is plummeting down and the stock market is shooting up like a rocket today," he said.
Asked when details of the agreement would be released, Trump said the memorandum of understanding would become public soon. "I want it to be released because it's a very powerful document," he said. "Probably pretty soon, I would say, sometime after Friday."
Trump indicated that Vice President JD Vance would represent the administration at the formal signing ceremony. "JD is coming in for it," Trump said, adding that he might not attend because of summit commitments. "I may be involved, I may not." The U.S. President also signalled that his administration would now devote greater attention to efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
"I had two very good conversations yesterday," Trump said, referring to discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "Now that this is finished, we're going to be focusing on that." Macron said G7 leaders would also discuss Ukraine, critical minerals, trade, artificial intelligence and other strategic issues during the summit.