The provisional framework agreement announced between the United States and Iran on 17 June is about far more than reviving stalled nuclear diplomacy or reviving the 2015 deal. It offers a political, security and economic blueprint for managing the post-war phase while redefining the balance of power across the region. Its significance lies as much in its timing as in its substance. Unveiled after a broad cycle of escalation centred on Lebanon, the framework suggests that Washington’s priorities now extend beyond Iran’s nuclear programme to the wider task of containing interconnected crises spanning Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel and, potentially, the future of the Palestinian political system. Provisions covering freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and proposals for Iran’s […]