In an unconventional diplomatic flourish, the United States and Iran have initialled a memorandum of understanding via electronic signature, a step both sides say will immediately begin to defuse the maritime confrontation that has choked the Strait of Hormuz. The document, signed on Monday by President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, commits Washington to suspending its blockade of Iranian ships and ports, while Tehran guarantees the swift reopening of the strategic waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that no frozen Iranian assets have been released under the deal, but stressed that the provisional agreement is already in force, with commercial traffic through the strait expected to increase gradually in the coming days.

Viewed from Washington, the electronic signing was a deliberate gesture. The same official noted that Trump “wanted to sign it personally to show his dedication” to securing a resolution, even as a formal ceremony remains scheduled for Friday in Geneva, where Vice-President Vance will represent the administration. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, quoted by the Mehr news agency, confirmed the Friday event, while Russian media reported that the memorandum was coordinated through back-channel contacts and finalised in digital form to accelerate de-escalation. Brazilian analysts, citing CNN Brasil’s international desk, observed that the agreement’s validity from the moment of electronic signature marks a departure from traditional treaty practice, underscoring the urgency of halting hostilities that had threatened to draw in Gulf states and disrupt global energy markets.

From Tehran’s perspective, the choice of parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as signatory — rather than a figure from the executive branch — signals a calibrated internal consensus within Iran’s complex power structure. Ghalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guards commander and mayor of Tehran, carries weight with both the security establishment and the political class, lending the memorandum a credibility that a purely ministerial signature might lack. Iranian outlets have framed the deal as a preliminary step toward broader crisis resolution, while Russian-language sources in Moscow noted that President Trump immediately pivoted to the Ukraine conflict, telling reporters ahead of the G7 summit in France that he would now focus on mediating between Kyiv and Moscow.

The memorandum’s immediate practical effect — the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — addresses the most acute economic threat, but leaves untouched the deeper architecture of US sanctions and Iran’s nuclear programme. No sanctions relief has been granted, and the document is described as a “memorandum of understanding” rather than a binding treaty, suggesting it serves primarily as a confidence-building mechanism. Analysts in London and European capitals will be watching Friday’s Geneva ceremony closely for any indication that the deal could evolve into a broader framework, particularly given Trump’s stated ambition to pivot to the Ukraine conflict. For now, the electronic signatures represent a rare moment of direct, high-level US-Iran engagement — one that has already begun to ease the immediate risk of miscalculation in the Gulf, even as the underlying geopolitical rivalries remain unresolved.