Iran will pursue US understanding with ‘complete distrust,’ lawmaker says

Germany is deploying two ships to the Red Sea as it prepares for a possible military mission in the Strait of Hormuz, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday.

“As we speak, our minesweeper Fulda and the supply ship Mosel are sailing through the Suez Canal towards the Red Sea,” Pistorius told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with NATO counterparts in Brussels.

Pistorius said any German participation in a minesweeping operation would require approval from Iran and Oman, and would also depend on developments in further talks between Iran and the United States.

Iran’s conservative Khorasan daily, which is close to chief negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned Iranian officials against taking a joint photo or shaking hands with US officials at the expected signing of a memorandum of understanding in Switzerland.

The newspaper said US Vice President JD Vance, or even President Donald Trump, could travel to Switzerland for the signing ceremony, and warned that Washington was seeking such an image.

“The Iranian delegation’s protocol team must be careful from now,” it said, adding that officials must not agree to a “souvenir photo” with Americans or a handshake with Trump.

Ships have faced long delays and costly diversions to secure fuel as shortages linked to the Middle East crisis disrupt established energy supply routes, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing industry executives.

Vessels have been forced to wait up to nearly two weeks at major refueling hubs or sail hundreds of extra miles to find bunker fuel, the report said.

Shipping leaders warned that disruptions could continue even after the US and Iran reached a deal.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that Australia welcomes a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, calling it “a really important breakthrough” that could provide immediate de-escalation and help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Albanese said at a press conference in Sydney that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz might take some time, adding that the economic consequences of its closure would continue to be felt for some time.

He also said the agreement includes a nuclear weapons provision, saying Australia has said all along that it does not want Iran to gain access to nuclear weapons.

Republican Senator Eric Schmitt said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump achieved what many believed was impossible by severely degrading Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities while creating an opening for diplomacy, speaking in an interview with Fox News.

Schmitt said Iran is now committing for the first time not to pursue a nuclear weapon and argued that the agreement should be based on verification rather than trust, describing the outcome as a success for the American people.

President Trump later shared the interview on Truth Social and thanked Schmitt.