WASHINGTON, June 14, 2026 — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed President Donald Trump’s announcement of a completed Iran peace deal Saturday as a “historic” achievement that “will be recorded in history books for centuries to come” — as Trump declared the deal complete, authorized the toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and ordered the immediate lifting of the United States naval blockade of Iranian ports on his 80th birthday.
“President Trump continues to make the world safer, today reaching a historic peace deal with Iran,” Bessent wrote on X. “His leadership, along with his direct engagement with allies and adversaries alike, will be recorded in history books for centuries to come.”
Trump’s Announcement
“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!” Trump wrote on Truth Social at 4:29 PM. “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”
In a second Truth Social post at 5:27 PM, Trump added: “This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region. Many presidents have tried to make Peace with Iran, and all have failed before me. The Leaders of the Region have, for the first time, found a President who can help them achieve real Peace.”
What the Deal Includes
The agreement includes an immediate and permanent end to military operations — including in Lebanon — and a 60-day period for further nuclear talks in which Iran commits against pursuing nuclear weapons. Details on enrichment limits and uranium disposal timelines are to be finalized during that window. The formal signing of the agreement is expected around June 19 in Switzerland.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif played a central mediation role in brokering the agreement, with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey also involved in the negotiations. The deal’s announcement came after months of fragile ceasefire negotiations, multiple rounds of strikes and counter-strikes, and the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on June 8 that triggered the latest round of U.S. retaliatory strikes against Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz — What Reopening Means
The Strait of Hormuz carries approximately 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. Iran had effectively closed or threatened it since the war began on February 28, 2026 — with the U.S. naval blockade simultaneously preventing Iranian oil exports from leaving Iranian ports. The dual disruption drove sustained increases in global oil prices that affected consumers in the United States and worldwide throughout the four-and-a-half-month conflict.
Trump’s authorization of a “toll free” reopening — meaning no Iranian passage fees or conditions on commercial shipping — and the simultaneous lifting of the naval blockade are designed to immediately restore global oil flows. Oil markets reacted with sharp price drops on the announcement, as traders priced in the return of significant supply from both Iran and the broader Persian Gulf region.
Bessent’s Role
Bessent has been central to the economic warfare dimension of the Iran campaign. Under his direction, the Office of Foreign Assets Control launched the “Economic Fury” campaign — sanctioning Iranian LPG smuggling networks, designating Iranian exchange houses moving hundreds of millions of dollars for sanctioned banks, freezing nearly half a billion dollars in regime-linked cryptocurrency, and blocking approximately 140 ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports through the naval blockade.
Bessent’s Saturday post framing the deal as a product of Trump’s “direct engagement with allies and adversaries alike” reflects the administration’s argument that the combination of maximum economic pressure and military strikes — not diplomacy alone — brought Iran to the table in a way that no previous administration achieved.
What Critics Have Said
Not all reactions have been celebratory. Israel expressed concern about aspects of the deal involving Lebanon and the pace of nuclear verification, with Israeli officials worried that a 60-day window for further nuclear talks leaves too much time for Iran to reconstitute capabilities degraded by the strikes. Some Republican hawks, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — who called an earlier framework “not remotely America First” — remained skeptical that the deal’s nuclear provisions go far enough.
Iranian opposition groups and dissidents argued the deal legitimizes and stabilizes the Islamic Republic regime rather than contributing to its eventual replacement. Congressional Democrats who voted for the Ukraine Support Act the same week expressed concern about whether the deal includes sufficient verification mechanisms and congressional oversight.
The Historical Significance
If the deal holds and the formal signing takes place in Geneva as planned on June 19, it would represent the most significant diplomatic achievement involving Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution — a deal that goes further than the Obama-era JCPOA by requiring Iran to dispose of its highly enriched uranium stockpile rather than merely capping future enrichment. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who posted on the same day praising Trump as “the first president to use both diplomacy and force to bring the terrorist regime to the table,” captured the bipartisan dimension of Bessent’s historical framing.
Bessent’s claim that Trump’s leadership “will be recorded in history books for centuries to come” was made on June 14 — Flag Day, America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, and Trump’s 80th birthday, a day that also saw Putin call Trump as the first foreign leader to reach him and the UK Royal Marines board a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the English Channel. The convergence of events on a single day marked one of the most consequential days in American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.