On 14 June, President Donald Trump announced that the United States and Iran had reached a preliminary agreement to halt the fighting that has consumed the Gulf since the American and Israeli assault on Iran in late February. The deal, confirmed by Tehran and detailed to reporters mid-week, extends a fragile ceasefire for sixty days, lifts the United States naval blockade and reopens the Strait of Hormuz, while leaving the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme to a difficult second phase of talks.