ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
President Trump says there is a deal to end the war with Iran. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said the agreement includes a plan to end the U.S. naval blockade on Iran and reopen the critical shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has been promising a deal for weeks. The details of what's in this deal are starting to emerge. NPR's White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez joins me now. Hi, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hi there.
FLORIDO: What do we know about what this deal involves?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, obviously, it just happened, so we're reporting this as we get it little by little.
FLORIDO: Right.
ORDOÑEZ: Now, Trump wrote on his website that, quote, "the deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete, congratulations to all." He did not share specific details but said the agreement does include Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. removing its own blockade of Iranian ports. He added in that same post, ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow.
FLORIDO: Franco, Trump's been promising a deal with Iran for several weeks. They have not materialized these deals. How real is this one?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, I think you can expect many international observers to view this agreement with some healthy skepticism. Trump may have announced that the Strait of Hormuz is open, but it's really the Iranians who have controlled the strait for the last few months. So observers, again, are going to be watching closely to see if ships do indeed freely start flowing through. That said, though, the Pakistani prime minister, who's been helping negotiate the deal, also posted that an agreement has been reached, and the Iranians too seem to be confirming this as well.
FLORIDO: Well, President Trump is set to leave tonight for the G7 Summit in Europe. You will be along for that trip. What does this deal mean for the summit with world leaders?
ORDOÑEZ: A lot. I mean, the war was expected to dominate the talks in southern France. I mean, I expect that will still be the case. It might even be a bigger part of the discussions now that an agreement has been reached. I mean, European leaders were reluctant to get involved in the war while it was going on but also said that they would play a part in the peacekeeping efforts after the fighting was over. Just as an example, the U.K. and France had been working on building a coalition of countries to help demine the Strait of Hormuz. Once the deal was reached, I expect they'll be talking a lot about that.
FLORIDO: Well, Franco, you know, the war with Iran has had significant political implications for President Trump, especially when it comes to the U.S. economy. How does the U.S. economy play into the president's calculus on this deal?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, the president's approval ratings have been going down and down, and that was largely because of the war. I mean, it was a very unpopular war. I mean, gas and energy prices have been on the rise for weeks, really stretching the pocketbooks of everyday Americans. Now, we're heading into the midterm election campaign season, and this was the issue that was hurting Republicans the most. I mean, Democrats were painting the president and his party as being out of touch with everyday Americans, that he was too focused on foreign adventures and not enough on the day-to-day needs of everyday Americans - affordability.
Now, the president has always insisted - or at least for weeks - that once the war was over, gas prices would come down, that grocery prices would come down and that the economy would surge for the positive. I do think it is, though, very important to move forward with caution. I mean, we have reported so many times before of the back and forth between the U.S. and Iran, both calling each other dishonest brokers. So you can expect for the next few days and weeks, it's going to be a very important and a tense time.
FLORIDO: Well, NPR's Franco Ordoñez, thanks for covering these developments for us. White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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