Iran, US Reach Tentative Deal on War   06/15 06:08

   The United States and Iran reached an initial agreement Monday that would 
extend their shaky ceasefire and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, 
but significant challenges remain, including whether Israel will continue its 
offensive in Lebanon.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United States and Iran reached an 
initial agreement Monday that would extend their shaky ceasefire and lead to 
the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but significant challenges remain, 
including whether Israel will continue its offensive in Lebanon.

   Details of the agreement were not immediately released, but it appeared that 
it would not be implemented until it is signed, which mediator Pakistan said 
would happen Friday in Geneva. Until then, shipping will likely remain 
restricted in the strait, which is a crucial passage for the world's oil and 
gas and the closure of which has sparked a global energy crisis.

   Israel's defense minister said Monday that the country wouldn't withdraw 
from land seized in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed 
Hezbollah militant group. Israel joined the U.S. in launching the war on Feb. 
28, but it is not party to the deal. A spokesman in Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu's office said Israel will continue to defend itself against any 
threat to its security.

   That alone could scupper the deal, since Iran has insisted any agreement to 
end the war include an end to the fighting in Lebanon.

   But the agreement also faces other major challenges. It gives just 60 days 
to decide what to do about Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium and its 
nuclear program -- which the U.S. and Israel worry could be used to build an 
atomic weapon, despite Tehran's insistence that it is peaceful. It took years 
for Iran and world powers to negotiate a 2015 agreement to rein in Tehran's 
nuclear program.

   President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from that accord in 
his first term, setting the stage for the tensions that culminated in the 
current war.

   Despite the uncertainties, world leaders from Europe to China welcomed the 
deal to end a conflict that has killed thousands across the Middle East, 
including the top leaders of Iran's theocracy, and raised the prices of fuel, 
food and other basic goods far beyond the region.

   Still, some expressed concern that the deal would actually come about: 
Luxembourg's foreign minister, Xavier Bettel, noted: "It's a long time till 
Friday."

   The Strait of Hormuz won't open until the deal is signed

   Trump, who faced pressure to end the war ahead of congressional midterm 
elections in November, hailed the agreement on social media, saying that he had 
authorized the Strait of Hormuz to open and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports 
to end. He later said the strait wouldn't open until Friday.

   Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement 
on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was 
signed.

   Early in the war, Iranian attacks on ships brought traffic in the crucial 
waterway to a near standstill. Trump implemented a blockade in response.

   The closure of the strait -- through which a fifth of the world's oil and 
natural gas passed before the war -- and the blockade sent fuel prices 
skyrocketing, and the knock-on effects rippled throughout the world economy. It 
will likely take months before energy companies can resume operations to the 
point of meeting the world's demand, according to energy experts.

   Iranian and U.S. officials will hold preparatory meetings in Doha, Qatar, 
this week before the signing, said a diplomat with direct knowledge of the 
talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meetings.

   Israel says it won't withdraw from Lebanon

   The success of the deal rests at least partially on what happens between 
Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel's bombing of Beirut's southern suburbs 
on Sunday nearly derailed the negotiations, and a previous attack led Iran to 
fire on Israel and Israel to fire back.

   Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, said Israel plans to stay 
"indefinitely" in land it holds in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

   Katz also threatened that if Iran attacks Israel over its strikes in 
Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran with "great force." Over the past 2 1/2 years, 
Israel has taken control of areas in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria amounting to 1,000 
square kilometers (386 square miles) of territory.

   In response to questions about where Israel stands on the deal, David 
Mencer, a spokesman in Netanyahu's office, told The Associated Press that 
Israel and the U.S. remain fully aligned on preventing Iran from obtaining 
nuclear weapons. But he added that Israel will not tolerate attacks from 
Hezbollah on its territory and will continue to act against those who seek to 
harm its citizens.

   Hezbollah has not yet commented on the deal.