Signing ceremony for U.S.-Iran memorandum set for June 19 in central Switzerland
2026-06-16
Preparations for the signing ceremony
The Swiss government said on the 16th it plans to hold the formal signing ceremony for a memorandum aimed at ending fighting between the United States and Iran on the 19th in Bürgenstock in central Switzerland. The venue is expected to be a mountaintop resort hotel overlooking a lake.
Text kept confidential
The text of the memorandum has not been made public. The U.S. government has said it will sign together with Iran and hold a formal ceremony on the 19th. According to U.S. ABC television, the two countries signed electronically on the 14th.
Nuclear issue and future negotiations
U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 16th he intended to make the memorandum public within days. 'Not only will we release it, but we will hold a press conference so the media can report it accurately and we will read it word for word,' he said.
On the same day, Trump held a series of meetings with leaders of other countries in Evian in eastern France, where he is visiting to attend the Group of Seven summit, and highlighted the agreement with Iran as an achievement.
In a meeting with Qatar's Emir Tamim, he said the memorandum 'clearly states that Iran will not possess nuclear weapons.' 'There will be no development, no import and nothing related to it at all. If they do, they will pay an unimaginable price,' he stressed.
In a meeting with United Arab Emirates President Mohammed, he said of Iran's highly enriched uranium, 'We do not intend to seize it. We intend to destroy it.' He appeared to indicate that it would be disposed of by dilution within Iran.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said in an interview with Fox News on the 15th, 'We will destroy the highly enriched uranium in cooperation with Iran. Iran has agreed to the disposal of the stockpile.' Trump had initially considered a plan to deploy ground forces to recover it and take it out of Iran, but negotiations appear to have advanced after the U.S. side accepted the idea of processing it inside Iran.
How to restrict new uranium enrichment is likely to become an issue after the formal signing. Vance explained, 'The system is designed so that benefits will not be available unless Iran reaches the stage of agreeing to halt enrichment activities. The technical details will be worked out in one to two months.'
The Iranian side has not been actively communicating on the points at issue in the memorandum. It says the nuclear issue will be discussed in a second phase after the signing, and it remains unclear to what extent the disposal of highly enriched uranium will be included in the document. It is also uncertain whether agreement can be reached in the next 60 days of negotiations.
The U.S. side plans to gradually lift asset freezes and sanctions depending on Iran's actions. In an interview with U.S. CBS television on the 15th, Vance said a reconstruction fund worth $300 billion (48 trillion yen) could be established if Iran ultimately agrees to abandon its nuclear program.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the 16th that, under the memorandum, the United States plans to allow Iran to sell oil immediately. A senior U.S. administration official said whether that permission will be extended long term depends on Iran's response.
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