Trump Says He Hopes to Put War in ‘Rearview Mirror’

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he hoped the war with Iran would soon be in the “rearview mirror,” even though the terms of a ceasefire he signed with Tehran remained secret and Vice President JD Vance acknowledged that it was “a very general document” with few details.

Still, Iranian and U.S. officials tamped down the heated rhetoric they had used in recent weeks, expressing hopes that the short-term agreement expected to be signed on Friday will lead to a long-term peace deal. “We’re dealing with people that I think are very rational,” Trump said. Mohammed Reza Aref, one of Iran’s vice presidents, said he hoped to resolve outstanding issues and called on Iranians to respect the outcome of the talks.

Signing Is Expected Friday

U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to gather at the lakeside resort of Bürgenstock in Switzerland on Friday to sign an initial agreement and kick off a 60-day ceasefire and negotiating period in which they will try to resolve issues that have kept the two countries at odds not just during the war, but for decades.

Trump has said that Friday, the United States and Iran will lift restrictions on the movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz. But even that step faces hurdles the preliminary agreement may not be able to immediately eliminate.

U.S. forces are searching for mines Iran may have laid in the strait. Shippers need mine-free waters and a calmer atmosphere to feel comfortable moving through the narrows. Months of hostilities in the region have left many skittish that fighting could return at any moment.

Iranian officials have also suggested that they may charge fees for ships passing through the strait — something they did not do before the war.

Uranium, Peace With Israel Yet to Be Negotiated

The thorniest points of contention still to be negotiated are what to do about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and about its proxy war with Israel. Israel’s military and the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah have carried out attacks against each other since soon after the war with Iran began on Feb. 28. More than 3,600 people in Lebanon have been killed.

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said that under the initial agreement, Iran expected Israeli forces to immediately withdraw from Lebanon and halt their attacks. “The end of the war also includes the end of occupation,” he told a gathering of diplomats on Tuesday morning. “Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied in this war, the war has not fully ended.”

But Israel has said its military will remain in Lebanon. Trump, for his part, said Israel was overly aggressive in that conflict and that “too many people are being killed.”

Here’s what else we’re covering:

— Oil prices: The price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell below $80 a barrel Tuesday for the first time since March, far below its wartime highs but still well above the prewar price.

— Securing the strait: Energy output is expected to take time to return to prewar levels because of the effort involved in restoring production and repairing damaged infrastructure.

— G7 summit: At the meeting of the leaders of the world’s largest wealthy nations, on the south shore of Lake Geneva, the focus was on Ukraine and the Middle East as Trump sought help to clear the Strait of Hormuz.

— U.S. senators (don’t) react: Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill were reluctant to praise the preliminary deal without seeing its terms, including Republicans such as Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close ally of the president.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Max Bearak/David Guttenfelder
c. 2026 The New York Times Company

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