The US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed in Geneva on June 17 calls for a ceasefire on “all fronts.” That phrase, two words in a 14-point document, is doing more work than any other clause in the agreement. It is the phrase Iran invokes every time it raises Gaza at the negotiating table in Doha. It’s the term that the Trump administration has been adamant about not enforcing against its most trusted ally in the region. And it is the phrase that, more than any Hormuz transit dispute or nuclear enrichment argument, may determine whether the 60-day final deal window produces an agreement or produces nothing.
Since the Gaza ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025, Israel has recorded 3,689 violations according to Gaza’s Government Media Office, killing 1,122 Palestinians and injuring 3,599 others during the ceasefire period alone. The overall Palestinian death toll since October 2023 has now exceeded 73,000, with over 173,500 injured. Palestinians occupy less than 30 percent of Gaza, while Israeli control stretches to around 70 percent. Israel has allowed only 35 percent of expected aid trucks and 36 percent of permitted travelers to cross Gaza’s borders during the ceasefire period. The ceasefire is only on paper. It has never been in existence for a continuous week on the ground in Gaza.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with a senior Hamas official and assured him that Iran is addressing Israel’s actions in Gaza in talks with the US. Gaza is now on the table for the Iran-US final deal negotiation. Iran is not raising Gaza as a rhetorical point. It is raising it as a condition. The MOU says all fronts. Gaza is a front. Israel is conducting daily strikes in violation of a US-backed ceasefire while simultaneously being the junior partner in the US-Iran war. In Doha, Tehran’s negotiators are highlighting that contradiction every time they sit across from US negotiators. It has no neat resolution for the Trump administration and would involve doing something about Israeli behavior that Washington has not been inclined to do.
What Israel Is Doing and Why It Matters for the Deal
Israel’s relentless attacks aim to prevent Palestinian recovery, sabotage the Trump plan, and pave the way for permanent occupation. Since January 2026, at least 12 attacks against police have occurred, resulting in the deaths of 35 police officers, including officers who are directing traffic and overseeing markets. On July 1, Israel deliberately targeted a tent housing five Al Jazeera employees and a freelancer, which Israel acknowledged as a planned operation. Since October 2023, 263 journalists have been killed in Gaza. These are not battlefield accidents. They are a documented campaign against Gaza’s civic infrastructure, conducted during an active ceasefire, by the country whose air force flew alongside the US when the Iran war began on February 28.
The MOU was signed with the stated aim of permanently ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. Despite Lebanon receiving special emphasis in the MOU, Israel has shown no willingness to comply, continuing airstrikes and maintaining forces in southern Lebanon. It bears a striking resemblance to what transpired during Biden, when ceasefires were called in Lebanon and Gaza and then broken without any repercussions. The hardliners in Iran refer to that history whenever the reformist negotiating team makes a concession at the table. The logic of the argument is rather evident: Washington negotiated two ceasefires in Gaza that it failed to observe. Why would Iran accept a nuclear agreement based on American guarantees when the same partner cannot enforce the simpler agreement it already made?
Hamas announced the resignation of its civil administration under the US-backed peace plan on July 6, a significant development in the Gaza political track that landed with minimal international attention. That resignation came in reaction to the inescapable conditions imposed by Israeli violations, territorial seizure and aid restrictions every day. It takes away one of the major governance tenets of the Trump plan and gives Iran’s negotiators another reason not to trust US promises.
The Iran final deal, if it is to be concluded by August 16, requires Tehran to accept nuclear constraints in exchange for American guarantees. Those guarantees are being undermined in real time in Gaza by the US’s closest partner in the region. The Hormuz transit issue can be handled in Pakistan and Qatar with process and patience as mediators. They cannot handle the political price Iran’s negotiators have to pay at home as Gaza is burning on the other screen. The Gaza file is not a separate track. It is the turf where the whole credibility of the Iran deal is being put to the test. And on that ground, the evidence so far points in one direction only.
