# Iran’s Leader Endorses U.S. Deal but Warns ‘Excessive Demands’ Could Kill It

*Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 8:05 PM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-06-18T20:05:22.026Z (3h ago)
**Category**: geopolitics | **Region**: Middle East
**Importance**: 10/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/7914.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: Iran’s supreme leader says he personally approved a memorandum of understanding with Washington, even as Tehran warns it will walk away if the U.S. pushes too far. The rare public endorsement, the end of a naval blockade, and planned nuclear talks in Switzerland together signal a sharp turn in a decades-long standoff — and a fragile opening for energy markets and regional security.

Iran’s most powerful figure has publicly taken ownership of a deal with Washington — and drawn a red line under it. On 18 June, Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved a memorandum of understanding with the United States despite his own reservations, after receiving assurances from President Masoud Pezeshkian. Hours later, Tehran warned it would not accept what it called “excessive demands” from the U.S. as negotiations move into a new phase.

The remarks mark a rare moment in which Iran’s top authority has not only blessed direct engagement with Washington but also endorsed face-to-face talks. Khamenei’s office signaled that the memorandum, already signed by the two governments, is now the framework for technical negotiations. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has been publicly defending the agreement, and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s chief Rafael Grossi is traveling to Switzerland for talks expected to begin on 19 June to operationalize nuclear-related provisions, including dilution of enriched uranium and expanded monitoring.

For Iranians, the stakes are concrete: sanctions have choked the economy, driven up prices, and limited access to everything from medicine to spare parts. A credible deal that eases pressure without triggering domestic backlash would offer rare breathing room. But Khamenei’s warning about U.S. “excessive demands” is aimed as much at his own hardliners as at Washington, signaling that he is willing to own this opening only if it does not look like capitulation.

On the U.S. side, the agreement is already roiling alliances. Israel’s government has condemned the Trump administration’s Iran deal as a “catastrophic capitulation,” while some senior Israeli officials reportedly suspect members of the U.S. administration of “secretly conspiring against Israel” for antisemitic reasons, with the memorandum framed as part of that conspiracy. Those accusations, however politically charged, highlight how far the new track with Tehran diverges from Israel’s preferred strategy of maximum pressure.

In the background, Washington is reshaping its coercive tools. The U.S. Treasury on 18 June imposed sanctions on Mahmoud Qamati, a senior Hezbollah political figure, and Sleiman Frangieh, a prominent Lebanese politician closely aligned with Hezbollah, tightening financial pressure on Tehran’s most important regional ally even as it negotiates over the nuclear file. That dual track — engagement with Iran’s state while targeting its regional network — is likely to complicate both diplomacy and threat perceptions.

The regional security map is already shifting. U.S. Central Command has confirmed that the naval blockade against Iran has ended, and Tehran’s security council has announced that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will increase gradually, with vessels required to follow allocated times and routes. For tanker crews, shipping insurers, and energy traders, the message is that Hormuz is reopening under Iranian-managed rules rather than under the shadow of a U.S. cordon. Vance, defending the memorandum, cited the transit of 12.5 million barrels of oil through the strait the previous night as evidence that flows are responding quickly.

For global markets, the linkage between diplomacy and prices is immediate. Trump has publicly celebrated lower oil prices and higher stock indices as proof that his administration’s approach is “beautifully” unfolding, explicitly tying a hoped-for complete ceasefire across Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon to the same stabilization narrative. The Iran memorandum is at the center of that pitch: if it holds, energy risk premia could continue to ease; if it collapses, any reprieve in prices could reverse just as quickly.

The question now is whether negotiators can turn a leader-level blessing into enforceable steps before domestic and regional opponents force a rethink. Signals to watch include the tone of Khamenei’s future public statements, the level of access the IAEA actually receives on the ground, any change in U.S. sanctions enforcement on Iranian oil exports, and how far Israel’s government is prepared to go in publicly challenging the deal as the Swiss talks get underway.