Donald Trump agrees to interim peace deal with Iran, focuses on Strait of Hormuz reopening

After more than 100 days of conflict, the US and Iran have agreed to stop shooting and start talking. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian finalized a memorandum of understanding around June 17, establishing a 60-day ceasefire that includes lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz toll-free.

What the deal actually says

The MOU is an interim agreement, not a permanent peace treaty. Under the terms, the US will immediately remove its blockade of Iranian ports. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes on any given day, will reopen without tolls for the full 60-day ceasefire window.

Iran, for its part, is required to make “best efforts” to ensure safe passage of vessels through the strait during this period. The phrasing is deliberately soft. “Best efforts” in diplomatic language means something closer to “we’ll try” than “we guarantee it,” which gives Tehran some wiggle room if incidents occur.

The harder negotiations come next. Discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, uranium enrichment activities, and potential sanctions relief are all slated to follow.

A formal signing ceremony is expected to take place in Switzerland or a comparable neutral venue shortly after the announcement. Mediation efforts that led to the deal involved Pakistan and Qatar, with France partially hosting the negotiations.

Trump distilled the geopolitical significance of the agreement into four words. “Let the oil flow,” he said regarding the Hormuz reopening.

The crypto angle: seized assets and market jitters

US authorities had previously seized approximately $1 billion in Iranian-linked crypto assets as part of enforcement actions against Tehran. That seizure was part of a broader effort to cut off Iran’s access to digital financial infrastructure, a campaign that intensified alongside the naval blockade.

The interim deal doesn’t explicitly address those seized assets or the broader crypto enforcement campaign. But the trajectory of negotiations, particularly the sanctions relief discussions that are set to follow, could eventually put those frozen digital assets on the table.

Initial market reactions to the ceasefire announcement were positive. Bitcoin and other digital assets saw a boost as reduced geopolitical risk drew in investors who had been sitting on the sidelines. Those gains were short-lived, though. A subsequent hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve tempered the rally, reminding markets that geopolitics is only one variable in a much larger equation.

Why 60 days might not be enough

The conflict between the US and Iran began in late February 2026, meaning the two countries have been in active confrontation for over three months. The 60-day window is long enough for oil markets to normalize and for shipping routes to stabilize, but it’s almost certainly too short to resolve the nuclear and sanctions issues that are the root causes of the broader dispute.

The involvement of Pakistan, Qatar, and France as mediators adds institutional weight to the process. If the US begins easing financial sanctions on Iran as part of follow-on negotiations, that could have cascading effects on how aggressively US regulators pursue Iranian-linked crypto enforcement. The $1 billion in previously seized assets represents just the visible portion of a much larger enforcement apparatus.

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