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Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on June 12 that the final text of a peace deal between the United States and Iran has been agreed upon, with both sides now working on next steps.
The deal, brokered with Pakistan serving as mediator, comes roughly two months after an initial ceasefire took effect on April 8. That ceasefire was itself a Pakistan-brokered arrangement that bought both sides enough breathing room to negotiate something more permanent.
A conflict that reshaped risk calculations
The 2026 Iran war began around February 28, pulling in regional actors including Israel and Hezbollah. The conflict quickly expanded beyond a bilateral dispute into something with broader implications for international trade, energy markets, and the global economy.
US President Donald Trump acknowledged conversations with Sharif during those ceasefire discussions, lending credibility to Pakistan’s role as an honest broker in a situation where trust between Washington and Tehran was essentially nonexistent.
Iran’s Foreign Minister referenced an “Islamabad memorandum of understanding” during the negotiations, suggesting that Pakistan’s capital had become the de facto neutral ground for hammering out terms.
What we know, and what we don’t
The text may be agreed upon, but the public knows almost nothing about what’s actually in it. Two of the most consequential issues in any US-Iran agreement, the security of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program, remain completely undisclosed.
The Strait of Hormuz matters because roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes through it.
The 2015 JCPOA took years to negotiate, survived roughly three years before the US withdrew, and has cast a long shadow over every subsequent diplomatic effort. Whether this new agreement addresses enrichment capabilities, inspections, or timelines is anyone’s guess at this point.
Independent verification of the accord’s specifics remains scarce, adding another layer of uncertainty to an already opaque process.
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