U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was cancelling “scheduled strikes” on Iran, claiming the two countries can sign a peace deal as early as this weekend, though Tehran maintains it has yet to reach any final decision.
“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and others,” Trump wrote on his TruthSocial platform. He added that the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would continue until the “transaction” is finalized.
Speaking with reporters at the White House, the U.S. president claimed a “great settlement” had been reached in the war. “The strait will officially open as soon as we sign, which could be soon, very soon, maybe over the weekend in Europe,” he said, adding Vice President J.D. Vance could sign for the United States.
To a question on whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the deal, Trump said: “I understand the answer is yes.”
However, Iranian media reported Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying that large parts of the text under negotiation have been finalized, but Tehran would not compromise on its red lines. “We have not reached a final conclusion on this matter,” he said. “This is a very important issue that is currently being reviewed by the relevant decision-making bodies,” he added.
This isn’t the first time Trump has claimed a deal had been achieved. Since mid-March, he has repeatedly said a deal to end the war is close, with little headway. Both sides traded strikes this week, raising fears of the sustainability of a ceasefire announced in April.
“We have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, which was the whole purpose of what we had to go through to get this. So it was a very big thing,” Trump said at the White House on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, in a statement, said Israel was not a party to the memorandum of understanding with Iran. Netanyahu also praised Trump for securing a deal that includes removing enriched material, dismantling enrichment infrastructure, limiting missile output and ending support for regional proxies.