What the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding means for macro and markets in World Economy News 20/06/2026 Now it’s official. Last night, US President Donald Trump signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran in Versailles. According to news reports, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed the document on Wednesday. The MoU between the US and Iran outlines the terms of their ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, some financial relief for Iran, and Tehran’s renewed pledge to never produce a nuclear weapon. Under the draft agreement, the US will allow Iran to sell its oil and petrochemical products, and Tehran may be able to tap into a US$300bn development fund if it meets commitments related to its nuclear programme in further negotiations. The document does not include specifics on what will become of Iran’s highly enriched uranium. With the signing of the MoU, a 60-day (though extendable) negotiation period starts, in order to flesh out further details. The relief in financial markets after the initial Sunday evening announcement was palpable – relief that a three-and-a-half-month war could be nearing its end. We will leave it to the real geopolitical analysts to decide whether the world has become a better place under the new deal compared with the situation in February. For now, it appears the MoU may have softened some of the red lines set by the US in the early stages of the conflict. What is clear, however, is the fact that the MoU is not yet a deal but rather the start of negotiations and the agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz during these negotiations. Whether these negotiations will eventually succeed is a different matter. On a different note, and at least for a short while, recent developments have brought the US and the rest of the G7 closer together. This week’s G7 meeting must have been one of the more harmonious meetings in recent times. But before getting overly enthusiastic about a new spring of multila