WASHINGTON (June 16, 2026) – The United States and Iran have reached an initial peace deal, but it’ll be several days until the final agreement is signed. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said both sides have permanently ended military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, with the ceasefire effective the night of June 15.
In the preliminary agreement, Iran’s nuclear weapons program was not addressed. President Trump warned that the U.S. would resume attacks or position the U.S. as “guardian of the Middle East” if a final nuclear deal is not reached.
For more analysis on these developments, please consider Gordon Gray, the Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs. Gray worked for the U.S. government for 35 years. Gray’s public service included U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia from 2009-2012, Senior Advisory to the Ambassador in Iraq 2008-2009, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2005- 2008. His other foreign assignments included Egypt (where he served as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2002 until 2005), Canada, Jordan, Pakistan, and Morocco, where he began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer.
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-GW-