Mediator Pakistan says Iran-US peace deal text 'agreed'

The United Arab Emirates has agreed to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, four sources said, in a tactical shift after weeks of Iranian attacks on the wealthy Gulf Arab state during the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.

Word of the move, which has not been reported previously, coincides with the final stages of broader negotiations between Tehran and Washington to end the war, talks that diplomats say could involve the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks under US sanctions.

Two regional sources told Reuters the UAE had agreed to release a total of $10 billion, more than $3 billion of which had already been delivered.

Two other sources with knowledge of the arrangement put the total funds involved at $20 billion, adding that the move had been agreed in return for a halt to Iranian attacks on the UAE.

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday called on the US and Iran to seize the opportunity to end a situation that is unsustainable and sign an initial peace deal, which is close to be signed, according to a senior US administration official.

"We call on both sides to seize this opportunity to end a situation that is clearly untenable and only creates losers...that is what I told my Iranian counterpart," he said in an interview with cable TV channel LCI.

Barrot said he spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday morning.

"I am cautious, but the positive signs are accumulating," he said. "I feel both sides have a will to reach this deal."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that nuclear talks with the United States would only take place at a later stage and would not proceed unless a proposed interim deal was implemented, state TV reported.

He said the interim deal would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending conflicts on multiple fronts, adding that a memorandum of understanding had not yet been signed and could still change.

Araqchi said that management of the Strait of Hormuz would not return to the pre-war era, that sovereignty over the strait belonged to Iran and Oman, and that Iran would secure safe passage for ships through it.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran believed the only way to deal with its stockpile of highly enriched uranium is dilution in the country.

"Our position has always been that the only way to deal with the stockpile of enriched material is to dilute it inside Iran," said Araghchi in an interview with state television.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that upon finalisation, a draft deal with the United States would be signed "remotely", which could happen "in the coming days."

"As soon as the final stages of our negotiations are completed, this agreement will be signed and announced. The signing will initially take place digitally. Each side will sign remotely. After that, it will be announced that this memorandum of understanding has been signed by both parties," said Araghchi in an interview with state television.

"This could happen in the coming days. I am very hopeful."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Israel was looking to derail a potential deal with the United States currently being finalised.

"I must frankly say that this agreement has enemies, the foremost of which is the Zionist regime, who are looking for pretexts to derail it," said Araghchi in an interview on state television.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that a draft deal with the United States included ending a naval blockade of Iranian ports and arrangements on managing the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"The naval blockade must be completely lifted. That is the first point mentioned in the agreement," Araghchi said in an interview with state television.

"Iran has made a firm decision that the administration of Strait of Hormuz will no longer be the same as before," he noted, adding that discussions were ongoing with Oman on the matter.

The United States is "80 to 85 percent" confident of signing a peace deal with Iran in the coming days, a senior official in President Donald Trump's administration said Friday.

The deal would involve "significant" sanctions relief and the unfreezing of Iranian assets, in exchange for Iran agreeing to dismantle its nuclear program and hand over its nuclear material, the official said.

"I feel very good about the deal. I think the president has gotten to a very good spot," the senior official told reporters in a call, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We're not quite at the finish line yet, but we are very close,"

A UK judge on Friday jailed four activists from the Palestine Action group for breaking into an Israeli defence firm causing some £1.0 million in damage, ruling the raid was "a terrorist act".

Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani had been found guilty last month of destroying equipment belonging to an Elbit Systems site in southwestern Bristol with sledgehammers and crowbars.

But ruling that the raid had been "an act of terrorism", judge Jeremy Johnson jailed Corner for seven years and eight months.

He told the former Oxford student that he had used "extreme and gratuitous force against a vulnerable police officer acting in the course of her duties".

Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups urged support for a two-state solution, saying "the window of opportunity" was closing, as they met in Paris on Friday.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in Israel's history, vehemently opposes the emergence of a sovereign and fully independent Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and is working on the ground to undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.

The Paris meeting came ahead of a G7 summit in the French town of Evian-les-Bains next week and was attended by the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas as well as ministers from Brazil, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

In a statement, representatives of Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups called on G7 leaders to urgently take action.

"Israelis and Palestinians alike remain trapped in fear, insecurity, and trauma," they said.

"The window for a solution remains open; but it is narrowing. This moment requires urgent diplomacy, grounded in partnership with civil society."

An aid convoy organised by the Vatican envoy to Lebanon that was headed for Christian villages in the country's south was stopped by the Israeli military and forced to change course, a convoy member told AFP on Friday.

A number of Christian-majority villages near the border have been caught up in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, but many residents have refused to leave.

"While approaching the village of Debl on Thursday, we got face-to-face with several Israeli tanks" who stopped the convoy, a member of the convoy told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"There were several tank and machine gun shots towards rear positions that we could not identify... which caused panic," he added.

The person said it was not clear "whether they wanted to intimidate us or they were targeting Hezbollah positions".

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military and the Vatican did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hezbollah said on Friday that its fighters had confronted Israeli forces advancing towards a southern Lebanese town, as Israel pressed on with its strikes in Lebanon.

In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters first targeted Israeli troops advancing towards Majdal Zoun, around five kilometres (three miles) from the western side of the border, on Thursday evening "with repeated rocket barrages, forcing them to retreat".

It then said it engaged with an advancing force there on Friday "engaging them with light and medium weapons and rockets".

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported a series of strikes across the south, including on areas not included in the Israeli warning.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday that the final text of a US-Iran peace deal had been agreed.

"We can confirm that a final, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reached and Pakistan is now working closely with both sides to finalise the next steps," Sharif posted on X.

He tagged both the US and Iranian presidents and other leaders from both countries. Pakistan has been mediating between the two sides for months.

"Peace has never been as close as it is now," Sharif said.

Amid ongoing intense mediation efforts by Pakistan, we are fully aware of incessant misinformation campaign being waged by those who want to sabotage the peace deal. Setting aside the noise, we can confirm that a final, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reached and…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 12, 2026

Vice President JD Vance said on Friday that funds would not be released to Iran for signing a deal with the US or attending a meeting, adding that the potential deal is structured to ensure that economic benefits would flow to Tehran if it meets its obligations. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that an "Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding" for addressing the US-Israeli war on Iran had "never been closer", but urged media outlets to refrain from speculating about its contents until it was finalised.

Araqchi said Iran would share all details with the public in due course, in what he called Tehran's responsible and transparent approach.

Iran has agreed to dismantle its nuclear program and destroy nuclear material under a deal with the United States, a White House official told AFP Friday, as the two sides gave clashing accounts of the agreement.

Tehran also agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz and will not receive any frozen funds until they honor their commitments under the "performance-based deal," the senior administration official said.

An emerging deal between the United States and Iran is "performance-based" and Tehran gets none of its frozen assets until it carries out its part of the agreement, a senior Trump administration official said on Friday.

US President Donald Trump denied on Friday that the United States has made major concessions to Iran and a senior US official called an emerging pact "performance-based" with Tehran getting no frozen assets until its part of the agreement is fulfilled.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Iran's leaked comments on a deal with the United States do not represent what has been agreed to in writing.

"What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth. Very dishonorable people to deal with. With them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith. AMAZING!," he wrote on Truth Social.

The United States has deported an Iranian pro-democracy activist to the Central African Republic, her lawyer said on Friday, describing it as a "super dangerous" transfer to a country with which the activist has no connection.

The Iranian American Legal Defence Fund (IALDF) said on Thursday that three Iranian women who fled persecution were at risk of deportation, including one who had converted to Christianity.

In the end, only the activist was on the flight that took off from Louisiana on Thursday night, said her lawyer, Emily Trostle, who did not rule out that the others could be deported later.

The plane was expected to fly to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, via Accra, Ghana's capital. "They have absolutely no connection to this place. In all of my filings, I submitted tons of information about how this was super dangerous," Trostle told Reuters.

"These individuals are being removed from the United States and abandoned in a country where they have no status, no connection and no support network. We fear they will ultimately be forced to return to the countries they originally fled."