Pakistan says US-Iran peace text agreed, electronic signing expected within 24 hours

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that the United States and Iran had reached a final, agreed-upon text for an accord intended to end months of conflict in the Middle East, and that a formal signing could follow within the next 24 hours. In a post on social media platform X, Sharif said Islamabad was preparing for an electronic signing of the agreement immediately afterward, to be followed by technical-level discussions in the coming week. He described the moment as the closest the parties have come to a settlement and expressed confidence the arrangement could anchor a more durable peace.

Pakistan has positioned itself as a central mediator throughout the negotiations, hosting earlier rounds of talks and shuttling between the parties. According to Sharif's account, the framework now under consideration would advance in stages rather than as a single, comprehensive treaty, beginning with a memorandum of understanding before moving to subsequent talks on outstanding issues. The staged structure suggests that any near-term signing would mark a starting point for further diplomacy rather than a definitive close to every disputed question.

Officials in Tehran offered a more measured reading of where matters stand. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said separately that a deal to permanently end the war had never been closer, while cautioning in remarks to Iranian state media that no agreement had actually been signed. Araghchi reportedly characterized the package as a two-step process: a memorandum of understanding first, followed by negotiations on a range of issues. Analysts tracking the talks noted that any draft would still need to clear a lengthy internal approval chain inside Iran, spanning the military leadership, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, parliament and ultimately the country's most senior authority, before it could be considered final.

On the U.S. side, a senior Trump administration official had earlier indicated that an agreement to end the conflict could be signed soon, lending official weight to the optimistic timeline emerging from Islamabad. The convergence of statements from Washington, Tehran and Pakistan over the past day has fueled expectations that a breakthrough is near, even as each side has framed the precise status of the text differently.

Financial markets moved quickly on the diplomatic signals. Crude oil prices retreated sharply, with benchmark contracts sliding more than 3% as traders priced in the prospect of reduced supply risk from a region central to global energy flows. Brent had already drifted lower in recent sessions, and the latest headlines added to the downward pressure. Equity benchmarks extended a rebound, while demand for traditional havens such as gold eased somewhat as the threat premium that had supported defensive positioning began to unwind.

The cross-asset reaction underscores how tightly recent trading has been bound to the conflict's trajectory. A confirmed de-escalation would tend to lift risk appetite, weigh on energy and safe-haven assets, and reshape expectations across currency markets sensitive to oil and global growth. For now, however, the moves reflect anticipation rather than a concluded deal, leaving markets exposed to reversal should the signing slip or the terms prove narrower than hoped.

Caution is warranted given the history of the negotiations. There have been earlier moments of apparent agreement and optimistic announcements during the war that did not immediately translate into a lasting settlement, and Iranian officials have at times pushed back on media characterizations of the talks. The gap between a "final text" described by mediators and a document formally ratified by all relevant authorities remains the key uncertainty.

Attention now turns to whether the electronic signing materializes within the timeframe Sharif outlined, and whether the staged framework holds together as technical talks begin. Confirmation of a signature, the specific commitments contained in any memorandum of understanding, and the response of Iranian leadership will be the immediate markers traders and policymakers watch. Until those steps are completed, the diplomatic momentum—though notable—remains provisional, and the market response is likely to stay sensitive to each incremental headline out of Islamabad, Tehran and Washington.