New Delhi: The United States and Iran reached an initial agreement early Monday (June 15) that would extend their fragile ceasefire and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, potentially allowing desperately needed oil and natural gas to reach the global market, including India.However, significant challenges remain to ending the war triggered by the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, including whether Tel Aviv will continue its offensive in Lebanon.Details of the deal have not been made public. The US said it was signed electronically on Sunday but that it will not be implemented until a formal signing. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key mediator, first announced the pact and said the signing will happen Friday in Geneva.Following intensive talks, we are pleased to announce that the Peace Deal between the United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran has been REACHED. Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in…— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 14, 2026Even if the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial waterway for the world’s oil and natural gas, including 90% of India’s pre-war LPG imports and 55% of its crude inflows – fully opens then, it will likely take months for the global energy crisis sparked by its closure to ease.Israel had joined the US in launching the war on February 28, but it is not party to the deal. The Israeli defence minister said Monday that the country would not withdraw from land seized in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.Following the strikes of February 28, Iran retaliated by virtually closing the Strait of Hormuz. Washington later responded by blockading Iranian ports.Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the deal on Monday. “India hopes that the implementation of this understanding will help restore peace and stability in the region and ensure the freedom of navigation and commerce,” Modi wrote on X, not mentioning Pakistan in his remarks.His statement comes against the background of continuous US strikes on Indian-crewed vessels in the Gulf region, one of which killed three Indian seafarers. There has been growing criticism of his government’s handling of the American strikes.Strait of Hormuz will not ‘reopen’ until at least FridayAccording to Iran’s Mehr news agency, the draft agreement contains 14 points. A report by Al Jazeera notes that it reportedly includes a permanent and immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, the complete lifting of the American naval blockade within 30 days, a US commitment to withdraw its forces from around Iran, along with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.The draft also mentions the suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil sales. Al Jazeera has not been able to independently confirm Mehr’s details.It also appears to give just 60 days to resolve the situation of Iran’s highly enriched uranium and its atomic programme. That took years to resolve in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from that accord in his first term, setting the stage for the tensions that culminated in the war.Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran would not start implementing the agreement until after the signing ceremony. The US military said the blockade will remain in place “pending execution” of the deal.“Do not attempt to cross until explicit direction is given,” it said Monday in an advisory to merchant ships.Trump, who faced pressure to end the war ahead of congressional midterm elections in November, said that “a lot of great things are going to happen” in West Asia.“Very importantly, the oil is plummeting down, and the stock market is shooting up like a rocket today,” he said Monday at the G7 summit in France.Earlier, he said he was immediately ‘authorising’ the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz alongside a lifting of the US’s blockade but soon hedged, saying the strait wouldn’t open until Friday’s signing.He had also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “very difficult guy”. “And to be honest with you, he should be very thankful to us for doing this. Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours,” Trump told the New York Times.Israel’s bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday nearly derailed the negotiations, and a previous attack led Iran to fire on Israel and Israel to fire back.Benchmark Brent crude oil fell more than $3 a barrel on the news as Asian stock markets rallied.Who will sign the deal?Iranian state television cited the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council saying the war on all fronts “will end immediately and permanently beginning tonight” — but that the U.S. blockade “will be terminated immediately and in full.”Qatari mediators later left Tehran following 17 hours of negotiations, said an official briefed on the developments who spoke on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the talks. Separate preparatory meetings with each side will take place in Doha this week, the official said.It was not clear who from Iran would sign the deal on Friday. US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News the White House was still figuring out who would attend: “I certainly plan to be there, but it’s possible the president himself could be there.”But concern among Republicans in the U.S. already could be seen. They included U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who described Vance as “the architect of the deal.”“I am somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming,” Graham wrote online.U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Congress would exercise oversight on any accord with Iran.“We have seen time and again: War cannot change the Iranian regime,” he said.Interim deal faces intense scrutinyThe first US-Israel strike of the war killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Khamenei’s son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is now supreme leader. He has not been seen in the public since the war began, but his approval was needed for Iran to sign off on the deal.There was apparent friction inside Iran in the hours before the announcement, as the government warned that division at home over the deal weakened its negotiating position.The deal likely returns the region to a status that existed before the war, but with Iran having proven its ability to disrupt shipping in the strait. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer, and its effective closure rocked the global economy.Even with a deal, it will take months for oil and gas supplies to flow freely enough for the world’s needs to be met because shipping and insurance companies want to be confident the agreement will last, energy experts said.With inputs from AP. This article has been updated with additional information.