Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Iran and US reach a tentative deal to end the war and open Strait of Hormuz but challenges remain

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Iran and US reach a tentative deal to end the war and open Strait of Hormuz but challenges remain · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Iran and US reach a tentative deal to end the
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  war and open Strait of Hormuz, but challenges remain. This
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  article is being read by an automated voice brought to
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  you by Everlett Dubai. United Arab Emirates, the United States
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  in Iran reached an initial agreement Monday that would extend
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  their shaky seasifire and lead to the reopening of the
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  Strait of Hormuz, but significant challenges remain, including whether Israel
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  will continue its offensive in Lebanon. Details of the agreement
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  were not immediately released, but it appeared that it would
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  not be implemented until it is signed, which mediator Pakistan
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  said would happen Friday in Geneva. Until then, shipping will
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  likely remain restricted in the strait, which is a crucial
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  passage for the world's oil and gas, and the closure
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  of which has sparked a global energy crisis. Israel's defense
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  minister said Monday that the country wouldn't withdraw draw from
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  land seized in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian
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  backed Hesbealah militant group. Israel joined the US in launching
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  the war on February twenty eighth, but it is not
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  party to the deal. A spokesman in Prime Minister Benjamin
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  Netanyahu's office said Israel will continue to defend itself against
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  any threat to its security. That alone could scupper the deal,
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  since Iran has insisted any agreement to end the war
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  include an end to the fighting in Lebanon. But the
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  agreement also faces other major challenges. It gives just sixty
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  days to decide what to do about Iran's stockpile of
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  highly enriched uranium and its nuclear program, which the US
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  and Israel worry could be used to build an atomic weapon,
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  despite Tehran's insistence that it is peaceful. It took years
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  for Iran and world powers to negotiate a twenty fifteen
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  agreement to reign in Tehran's nuclear program. President Donald Trump
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  unilaterally withdrew the US from that accord in his first term,
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  setting the stage for the ten that culminated in the
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  current war. Despite the uncertainties, world leaders from Europe to
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  China welcomed the deal to end a conflict that has
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  killed thousands across the Middle East, including the top leaders
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  of Iran's theocracy, and raised the prices of fuel, food,
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  and other basic goods far beyond the region. Still, some
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  express concern that the deal would actually come about. Luxembourg's
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  Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel noted it's a long time till Friday.
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  The Strait of Horrormus won't open until the deal is signed. Trump,
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  who faced pressure to end the war ahead of congressional
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  midterm elections in November, hailed the agreement on social media,
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  saying that he had authorized the Strait of Horrormus to
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  open and the U S blockade of Iranian ports to end.
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  He later said the strait wouldn't open until Friday. Iran's
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  deputy Foreign Minister, Kazam Garibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television,
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  but said Iran would not start implementing it until it
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  was signed. Early in the war, Iranian attacks on ships
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  brought traffic in the crucial waterway to a near standstill.
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  Trump implemented a blockade in response. The closure of the strait,
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  through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural
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  gas passed before the war, and the blockade sent fuel
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  prices skyrocketing, and the knock on effects rippled throughout the
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  world economy. It will likely take months before energy companies
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  can resume operations to the point of meeting the world's demand,
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  according to energy experts. Iranian and US officials will hold
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  preparatory meetings in Doha, Qatar, this week before the signing,
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  said a diplomat with direct knowledge of the talks who
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  spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed door meetings.
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  Israel says it won't withdraw from Lebanon. The success of
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  the deal rests at least partially on what happens between
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  Israel and Hesbalah in Lebanon. Israel's bombing of Beirut's southern
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  suburbs on Sunday nearly derailed the negotiations, and a pre
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  vious attack led Iran to fire on Israel and Israel
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  to fire back. Defense Minister Israel Kats meanwhile said Israel
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  plans to stay indefinitely in land it holds in Lebanon, Syria,
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  and the Gaza Strip. Katz also threatened that if Iran
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  attacks Israel over its strikes in Lebanon, Israel will strike
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  Iran with great force. Over the past two and a
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  half years, Israel has taken control of areas in Gaza, Lebanon,
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  and Syria amounting to one thousand square kilometers three eighty
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  six square miles of territory. In response to questions about
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  where Israel stands on the deal, David Menzer, a spokesman
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  in Netanyahu's office, told the Associated Press that Israel and
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  the US remain fully aligned on preventing Iran from obtaining
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  nuclear weapons, but he added that Israel will not tolerate
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  attacks from Hesbelah on its territory and will continue to
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  act against those who seek to harm its citizens. Hesbelah
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  has not yet commented on the deal.