Agreement to end US-Iran war signed

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0:39Hello, I'm Celia Hatton. Welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. The deal is done. The US and Iran have both signed on the dotted line to stop their war. Yes. Bravo.

0:55Signing the Memorandum of Understanding at a dinner for G7 leaders at the Palace of Versailles in France on Wednesday night. The French President Emmanuel Macron leading the applause there. But now the clapping has stopped. Teams from the US and Iran are expected to face each other at the bargaining table in about 24 hours time. And it's an eye-watering list of issues that remain on that table. How will Iran's nuclear program wind down and how will monitors ensure that's happening? When the 60-day negotiation period is over, what will happen to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz? And the money issue, how much money might Iran receive in sanctions relief and where will that money go?

1:35A long list of questions. Our chief international correspondent Lise Doucette in Lucerne, Switzerland, gave us her analysis. I think, Silly, we have to begin by saying that it's a win for the world at the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure had had such wide ranging and very painful repercussions for countries the world over. That's really, really important. President Trump is able to say, and he said it in capital letters in response to that course of criticism, is saying that the oil prices are coming down, the stock markets are up. He says if anyone criticizes his deal, it's because they're stupid or ignorant or jealous.

2:17So he is really fighting back against it. What did Iran get? Well, Iran, of course, is in the midst of a dire economic crisis. It means that it protects itself from further destruction from the Israeli and American attacks. But when you look at the 14 points in this deal, Celia, it really does look like a big win for Iran. Take the point about the core of this deal, the nuclear program. The word used is that Iran reaffirms that it will not try to acquire or develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has been saying for many years it will not acquire a weapon. It was part of the 2015 nuclear deal, which President Trump pulled out of in 2018.

3:06Iran also gets an immediate waiver, which allows it to export its crude oil, its petroleum products. It allows us to use the transportation and the banking systems. And while the Strait of Hormuz is fully open for 60 days without tolls, President Trump keeps saying there will be no tolls. After those 60 days, there is going to be what's called a regional dialogue about the strait. And that dialogue is already taking place between Iran and Oman, who controls the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz. And Iran is making it very clear. There's been statements by the President, Mahmoud Przewski, saying that Iran will continue to charge.

3:48Don't call them tolls. There'll be fees. There'll be services. So there's much in this for Iran. The big test for Iran, of course, will be in the second part during that period of intense negotiations. If it wants sanctions lifted and it wants its assets unfrozen, it is going to have to make concessions on its nuclear program. He's looking forward to those talks. I mean, you mentioned it, but U.S. and Israeli strikes during this conflict have taken out many Iranian political and military leaders. once the deal has been signed, do the Americans have the appropriate sway to negotiate with the Iranians now?

4:25Well, there's another curiosity about this process. The deal has already been signed. It was signed digitally first. There's now photographs on social media today of President Peshachian of Iran, President Trump at the G7 signing the deal, the Pakistani mediator, Shabazz Sharif. So it's been signed. What will happen here tomorrow, not far from where I'm speaking to, is we understand there will be some kind of a formal ceremony. We understand that J.D. Vance, the U.S. vice president, will be there, the lead negotiator for Iran, the Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Bahrir Ghalibov. Qatar will be represented, Pakistan.

5:04And Iran has said they want negotiations to begin immediately, and they could possibly go for more than one day. I think the big question now is, is the United States going to put together a team with the kind of experts which were so integral to the negotiations in 2015? They still haven't assembled the top nuclear experts, the physicists, the economic experts to negotiate what will be a very, very technical as well as a political negotiation. The BBC's chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette, in Lucerne, Switzerland. Let's focus on Israel now. Here's how some people there reacted to the deal.

5:45I don't believe there should be a ceasefire. I think that they should finish what's going on. Honestly, I think that Netanyahu should do exactly what he wants to do and not be harassed by Donald Trump. We would like to protect our country from other terror activities. Even though we're in war and stuff here is bad and we have rockets firing at us from Iran, I hope that we will have peace. Alon Pincus advised Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres, who both served as Israeli prime ministers. I asked him how Israel is going to be affected by this deal. You know, there's a straight answer. And the straight answer is that Israel's geopolitical position has been diminished, that this war and the ensuing agreement represent a strategic debacle as far as Israel is concerned, that none of the war objectives have been achieved, not even close, and that this would present a major challenge for Israel in the forthcoming years.

6:45That's one way of looking at it. The second is a more cautious political perspective, and that is, wait. It's only a memorandum of understanding. It requires a 60-day negotiating period, which according to the paper itself, the 14-point draft, not draft, the 14-point agreement, rather, is extendable. So let's call it 90 days for the sake of our conversation. And let's see what happens between 60 and 90 days from now. And that could change the dynamics. The third way of looking at it is to say, okay, this is geopolitics and this is a strategic environment or landscape, call it what you want. And it would be premature and misleading to conclude anything at this point.

7:40So let's just wait and see. I happen to choose option one of those that I presented to you, Celia. So the strategic debacle then? Yes, absolutely. And tell me more about why you think that. Look, without getting into the politics of Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran has been his fixation, his obsession, his raison d 'etre, so to speak, of his entire political career. And here he was presented or worked toward an almost perfect storm situation, a perfect constellation is a better term, of geopolitical factors, a weakened Iran, a dominant Israel, and a willing American president to go on board. and it failed.

8:33None of his fundamental basic premises have matured or have succeeded. The regime in Iran did not collapse. There was no popular uprising. Iran's missile production and launching capability, yes, has been degraded, but no, it has not been eliminated. Iran's nuclear program has been deferred to that negotiating period, those 60 days plus that we just spoke about. His assurances to Trump in mid-February that Iran would not attack the Arab Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and others, Kuwait, has been disproven. And his assurance that Iran is incapable and would never dare to shut down the Strait of Hermoz backfired spectacularly.

9:31So in that respect, it's a major debacle. Add to that the agreement, which is why you and I are talking right now. The agreement from an Israeli point of view is probably the worst of all scenarios. Alon Pincus, former advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres. So that's a view from Israel. How is the deal going down in Iran. My colleague Sarah Montague has been speaking to Fawad Izadi, Professor of International Relations at the University of Tehran. There's this sense of victory when Trump started this war. He was talking about taking over Iran's oil, changing Iran's borders, changing Iran's government.

10:14He hasn't achieved any of those goals. Do you think Iran is in a better or worse place than it was under the previous agreement, the JCPOA? When Trump left the agreement, JCPOA in 2018, Iran had no leverage. Today, Iran has control of the state of Hormuz. Right. So it's a better situation than under the JCPOA? Because of that leverage, yes. What's your understanding of the requirements on Iran and its enrichment of uranium and any nuclear ambitions it has. It sounds like we're going to get something similar to the 2015 agreement. Trump is going to get something similar to Obama. Of course, the authorities in Iran have changed fairly dramatically and power has shifted a bit.

11:04Is it your understanding that the IRGC is fully in favour of this agreement? The IRGC is like the British military answering to civilian leadership. So just to be clear, the IRGC will do whatever the new supreme leader, Mojtabar Khamenei, whatever he says? Yeah. Iran resisted 40 days of bombing. You cannot have chaos in leadership and do that. So there is... Indeed, it's just been suggested that as a result of that, it is the military who feel perhaps more powerful now because they have successfully held off. That's not unique to Iran. When the military manages to defend the country, then they become more popular and they will have more influence.

11:50It was the economy that prompted the protests in January. And the economy is in a very fragile state now, even more fragile. Inflation is really soaring away. If there were protests as Iran stabilises, what is likely to happen to them? Will they be suppressed in as just as violent a way? We had a coup in January that was designed to demonize Iran, to come up with exaggerated casualty numbers so they could justify the war. I just want to ask you about the Supreme Leader because we haven't heard from him. We've had statements, but we haven't seen or heard him speak. Is he in control in Iran at the moment?

12:33Yes, yes, he is. Have you seen him? No. I'm just wondering, how do you know that he is? Because he's directing government officials on the duties that the leader here has. He's communicating with people. You know, we had the previous leader assassinated by the Israelis and Americans, and he has to make sure that his safety is a priority. That is more important than the curiosity of BBC journalists. Fawad Azadi, Professor of International Relations at the University of Tehran, speaking with Sarah Montague. Stay with us on NewsHour on the BBC World Service.

13:31You're listening to NewsHour. Let's focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo now and the ongoing Ebola outbreak there. The most dangerous time for Ebola to spread is when a person with the virus dies. That's when they're in the most infectious period. Burials have been linked to mass infection events during outbreaks, so safe burial teams have become a critical part of the response. The BBC's Anne Soy followed volunteers from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent as they conducted a funeral in Ituri province in the northeast of the DRC. she filed this report.

14:32just arrived, they will also put on the personal protective equipment and then the medics on the inside will hand over the body to them. We are about to accompany the family of a 34-year-old mother of four. She has died from Ebola.

14:55It's a big blow for our family. That's the deceased woman's father, Simone Nyarl. She was not ill for long. Only one week and then she died. She's left behind children. I don't know how we will cope. They have now placed the coffin on the pickup truck and now they are removing the personal protective equipment that they wore here and that is done sequentially as another team observes making sure there's no chance of infection.

15:33We've now come to Nyamurongo Cemetery and the Red Cross team is wearing white aprons and they've just lowered the body into the grave. There are few members of the family here. It's a very short session. The volunteers have gone back to the car. I think this is the quickest burial I've ever attended. Next to Simone's family, we find Joel Lonzama-Kwombu alone covering his mother's grave. He has lost three sisters, a brother-in-law and his parents in a matter of days. Today is the sixth I came here at the cemetery to say bye for members in my family. My father yesterday and today you see I'm here just to say bye for my mama.

16:26I have never seen anything like this. There are so many families here that have come for burials just today, and this is happening every single day. There are many freshly covered graves, many more being dug today. The number of people being buried in just this cemetery in Bunia is high. Even the locals are saying that this is not usual. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent says hundreds of community volunteers have signed up to help families conduct safe burials. It's very cultural. That's why we adapt the procedure as much as possible to match the needs of the families and the communities.

17:08Maria Munoz is the coordinator for public health emergencies at the Red Cross. She shows me how they have modified body bags to enable families to view their loved ones safely. Families often want to make sure that it's their loved ones in the back, we can show them the face of their loved one. Once the body is secured, the back is disinfected. There have been incidents of violence when some families have tried to take the bodies of their relatives forcefully, rejecting safe burial protocols. It's a difficult period for both the community and volunteers trying to help them to stop Ebola. It's challenging but vital work to help bring the outbreak under control.

17:51And soy in the DRC's Ituri province.

17:58Now to the UK and a story that sits somewhere between myth and reality. In the heart of Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire lies an ancient oak tree. According to local folklore, the hero Robin Hood, known for robbing the rich to give to the poor, took shelter inside the tree when he was hiding from the sheriff in Nottingham. A story, perhaps, but the tree, known as the Major Oak, is real, believed to be over a thousand years old. But it's now sadly thought to have died, despite conservationists' best efforts to keep it alive. Chloe Ryder manages the Sherwood Forest Estate for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

18:36What's so special about this tree? The Major Oak is obviously synonymous with the county of Nottinghamshire and the legends of Robin Hood and all of those tales. It's a really iconic tree. It's instantly recognisable and it's got to over a thousand years old, we believe, which is one of only a few hundred in the UK and one of very few in the whole of Western Europe. If I was standing next to it, what would I see? So the girth of the tree is about 11 metres around. So it takes about six people to give it a big hug. The crown, when it was in full coverage, was about 28 metres across. So as you walk up to it, even now, it's still a beautiful piece of natural sculpture.

19:20It is iconic and it will remain so for a long time. We should also add that a lot of metal supports have been put up around the tree in the past few decades, right? Can you tell us about them? Yeah, the major oak is obviously iconic, not just because of its size and its legend of Robin Hood, but also the interventions because of its popularity from, you know, three centuries ago. So it's metal props took over from wooden ones in the turn of the millennium. And it's also got these ironworks right in the crown that you can still see today that were thought to be put in in the early 1900s in those first attempts to keep that special shape.

20:01The limbs those bracing support are absolutely huge and they weigh vast amounts. But really in this last few years, there's been a significant lack of leaves visible on the tree compared to its full leafy glory in its heyday. But not only that, we've been using technology to monitor activity within the tree, but also in the soils. And then we began a root restoration project in 2023 to alleviate some of the problems of soil compaction. And we found that the root system had been severely compromised at that point. And so are you certain now that it really has died? We would understand that there's no miracle resurrection in the pipeline.

20:44There might be a few leaves in future as, you know, living tissues connect to some stored energy. But it's had so many challenges that it just can't sustain itself any longer. Is it safe to say they're all basically human causes that led to the death of the tree then? Certainly, though, the pressures of visitors wanting to touch the tree and take photographs inside it, and then all of those well-intentioned efforts to sustain it and keep it alive and intact have all added challenges to it. Climate change is another significant factor that we're seeing across forest ecosystems in the UK. So there's lots of dysfunction that's happening naturally, as well as those human interventions as well.

21:28The tree's not going anywhere though, is it? So it will continue to support a lot of life for a long time as it continues to decay? That's right. We say that the major oak will continue to be a focal point of Sherwood Forest, not just culturally with the legends that surround it, but also ecologically. So it will still play a vital part in that forest ecosystem in the next phase of its lifetime. Chloe Ryder manages the Sherwood Forest estate. And if you want to take a look at the major oak tree, there are some beautiful images of it on the BBC website, including a depiction of Robin Hood and Maid Marian getting married in the Sherwood Forest.

22:12That image dating back to 1886. Take a look. You're listening to NewsHour.

22:32How did the United States build the largest soft power empire in the world with the help of some tiny metal objects? I'm Tristan Redmond, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. To mark 250 years of the United States, we speak to Roman Mars of 99 % invisible. This soft power, this influence was an incredible invention. For more, listen to The Global Story on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

23:26That's schwab.com slash Washington Wise.

23:56reporter for the Daily Hive, which she made of Jesse Marsh's lively news conference ahead of the game. Yeah, Coach Marsh, he's always has a bit of banter, a bit of back and forth with the press. So he was in full form. It was finally good to be able to hear him talk because he had not spoken since post-match in Toronto after the draw. So it was good to hear from the gaffer. There was so much noise going into that game in Toronto. And actually this week in Vancouver, it's felt a little bit quieter. Yeah, they've had that first match under their belt and now they've moved across country to Vancouver, which is going to be their home base for the next two group stage matches.

24:34And if they advance to the knockout stage and they win the group, they'll be able to stay and play in Vancouver. So they have that sort of, they have their hotel sort of, their training centre, everything's really ready to go. So they just have to worry about the match against Qatar. So from that sense, there's a bit of relaxing and there's less travel so they can focus on the match. Well, I actually asked Jesse Marsh a question. So let's hear what he had to say because I put to him that the team may well be playing in a game where they will potentially qualify for the knockouts. Well, I mean, look, one of the things about the scenario right now in the group is even with a win, it's still in balance, right, in the balance.

25:20So I think our challenge right now is to really stay in the moment. And I know that sounds cliche, and I don't want to make random cliches here. But we are very respectful of Qatar. They have talent, and now if you add really that they have discipline and focus and confidence, this sets up to be a very difficult match for us. So we respect them, and I think that they're a good team. They obviously have a great coach. and so you know in all ways we are expecting their best and we're going to make sure that we're going to be at our best as well you asked him a really interesting question about the atmosphere here and what the pitch was looking like and he came up with a pretty uh interesting response the roof is closed it should be totally full we i know this is a football town vancouver I've seen it many times before and we expect this place to be rocking, man.

26:19Like these guys will be ready to perform and we want to make sure that Qatar feels not just the team, but the crowd. So a bit of a rallying cry from Jesse Marge. It's going to be a great game. I absolutely cannot wait. Exciting times for Canadians. Well, sports presenter Isaac Fannin there in Vancouver looking ahead to the Canada-Qatar match happening later today.

27:00You're listening to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton. Now to NATO meetings in Brussels. And for too long, NATO has been a paper tiger and a one-way street. no more. Too many allies still don't recognize the historic need that President Trump has made clear to them and to NATO itself to reforge a relevant, powerful military alliance. As President Trump put it, and rightfully so, he gave our allies a test to support America when we asked for their help. And too many failed it. That was U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the meeting of NATO defense ministers, continuing the Trump administration's sharp criticism of European military policies.