European Shares Poised For Firm Start On Iran Peace Deal Hopes

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open on a firm note on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled a third consecutive day of strikes on Iran, claiming that a peace deal with Tehran is close to being finalized.

Trump said an agreement to end the war with Iran had been reached and would be signed shortly, possibly in Europe this weekend with Vice President JD Vance attending on his behalf.

Trump also said the Strait of Hormuz would officially reopen once the deal was signed and that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.

However, Iran has not approved any text for any initial memorandum of understanding with the United States, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"The relevant authorities must reach a final decision regarding the text of the understanding and any potential agreement in detail. Once, a final decision is reached, we will issue an official statement," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmael Baqaei said.

Elsewhere, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is not a party to the memorandum of understanding, while welcoming assurances from Trump that the final agreement with Iran would include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran's support for its terrorist proxies in the region.

Asian markets were sharply higher after Wall Street's three major indexes posted their biggest daily gains since April 8 overnight on hopes for a Midde East peace deal and expectations of a strong market debut of Elon Musk's SpaceX.

South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi index was up nearly 8 percent, Japan's Nikkei surged 3.6 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added almost 2 percent, with technology and artificial intelligence-related stocks leading the surge.