By SCM STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran have in Islamabad largely negotiated the framework of a sweeping bilateral accord that would formally end the military conflict that has convulsed West Asia since February, according to senior diplomatic sources and an announcement by President Donald Trump.
The breakthrough, brokered following weeks of high-stakes mediation by Pakistan, Qatar, and other regional allies, establishes an immediate pathway to defuse a global energy crisis and avert a secondary, more devastating round of American airstrikes.
According to details first obtained by Al Jazeera and confirmed by officials familiar with the text of the emerging Memorandum of Understanding, the agreement hinges on a grand operational trade-off: a complete cessation of hostilities in exchange for an unwinding of the suffocating economic pressure Washington has applied over the last six weeks.
The negotiated framework establishes five core parameters to immediately halt the conflict:
A Multi-Front Ceasefire: The war will conclude on all primary fronts, explicitly including Lebanon, where a fragile, parallel truce between Israel and Hezbollah had been threatened by continued regional crossfire.
Assets Unlocked: The United States will allow the release of “several billion dollars” in Iranian financial assets that had been frozen in international banking channels.
Lifting the Maritime Blockade: The strict U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports will be dismantled, corresponding with Iran’s commitment to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.
Military Drawdown: U.S. naval and air forces deployed in close proximity to Iranian territory for the war effort will begin a structured withdrawal.
The 30-Day Nuclear Clock: Both Washington and Tehran have committed to a strict 30-day window to definitively negotiate and seal a permanent resolution to the “nuclear issue,” primarily involving the disposition of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile.
”An Agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries,” President Trump wrote in a statement on Saturday, following direct consultations with Gulf leaders and Pakistan’s military leadership.
The announcement marks a dramatic pivot from just 24 hours earlier, when administration officials characterized the prospects of a renewed bombing campaign as a “solid 50/50” if diplomatic channels collapsed.
The path to the current agreement follows months of rapid, unprecedented escalation that shattered decades of cold-war posture between Washington and Tehran.
The immediate catalyst for the conflict occurred in October 2025, when European signatories to the 2015 nuclear accord triggered “snapback” sanctions in response to Iran’s advancing uranium enrichment.
Following the collapse of indirect winter negotiations in Oman, the United States and Israel launched a massive, coordinated aerial campaign against Iranian military infrastructure and suspected nuclear sites on February 28, 2026.
Iran retaliated by imposing a total closure of the Strait of Hormuz—the maritime chokepoint responsible for the transit of roughly one-fifth of the world’s petroleum and liquefied natural gas. The resulting blockade triggered a sharp global energy shock and severely disrupted international supply chains.
A tentative, Pakistan-mediated two-week ceasefire was declared on April 8, 2026, to allow for indirect peace talks in Islamabad.
However, the truce remained highly volatile. While Iran and Pakistani mediators insisted that the cessation of hostilities must apply to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, the U.S. and Israel initially demurred, leading to intense Israeli air operations in southern Lebanon and retaliatory rocket fire.
Diplomatic pressure peaked this week as the U.S. Treasury Department leveled fresh implementation sanctions, and the Pentagon prepared coordinates for a second, deeper round of bunker-buster strikes targeting underground facilities in Natanz and Fordow.
Concurrently, reporting revealed that weeks of regional defense operations had severely depleted Western stockpiles of advanced missile-defense interceptors, heightening the vulnerability of U.S. regional bases to Iranian ballistic missiles.
The inclusion of Lebanon in the final text represents a major concession intended to secure a durable regional architecture.
However, American officials emphasize that the most perilous hurdle remains ahead: the 30-day mandate to dismantle Iran’s estimated 440-kilogram stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
While the immediate threat of a wider war has receded, the clock has already begun ticking on the final, nuclear terms of the peace.