US and Iran set to sign MOU virtually tomorrow, rather than in person; Trump said to have told Netanyahu, it’s an ‘excellent deal’; PM didn’t argue

The US and Iran are set to sign their memorandum of understanding tomorrow at a virtual meeting, Axios reports. “You might call it ‘the Zoom accords,” quips Axios reporter Barak Ravid, who also works for Channel 12, in a report for the Israeli TV channel.

Pakistani and Qatari mediators are also set to attend the online meeting and sign the MOU, which will extend the ceasefire by 60 days, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and trigger negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

The White House wanted a public ceremony in Geneva, and Pakistan wanted it in Islamabad, but the Iranians reportedly did not want either.

Axios cites US officials confirming that the signing will be held virtually, and citing logistical reasons.

The MOU itself is not believed to directly resolve any of the war’s goals — preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, constricting its ballistic missile program, ending its support for terror proxies and its terrorism worldwide, and creating the conditions for the fall of the regime.

US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and updated him on the deal, Channel 12. According to an American official, the president told the prime minister, “This is the deal. It’s an excellent deal, and it’s time to end this war.”

While Israeli officials are deeply opposed to the reported terms of the MOU, Netanyahu did not try to argue in the call, the US official is quoted as saying. “Bibi didn’t say much in the call. Evidently, he understood that there’s going to be a deal, and that he can’t stop it.”