Iran denies deal with US is imminent despite some progress | US-Israel war on Iran

Iran has poured cold water on suggestions that a deal with the US is imminent, citing confusion in US positions and Israeli intervention as key factors in understanding why a full deal will be difficult to achieve.

Speaking at the weekly foreign ministry press conference, Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s negotiating team, said that the future management of the Strait of Hormuz is an issue that Oman and Iran must agree on, and that what is being offered are not tolls but “fees for navigation services”.

Referring to the status of the talks, Baghaei said: “It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on most of the issues discussed. However, to say that this means that the signing of an agreement is close, no one can make such a claim.”

He also insisted that a ceasefire in Lebanon, which would lead to Iran allowing commercial shipping through the strait and lifting the US blockade of Iranian ports, should also be included in the memorandum of understanding.

By contrast, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio remained hopeful on Monday that a deal could still be reached, but there appeared to be a growing list of unresolved issues on what was intended to be a road map for restarting nuclear talks that Trump abandoned in February in favor of war.

Rubio said it takes time to get a response from the Iranian political system, but emphasized: “We’re either going to make a good deal or we’re going to deal with this some other way, and we’d rather have a good deal.”

“There’s something pretty solid on the table in terms of their ability to open the throat,” Rubio told reporters in New Delhi. [of Hormuz]”Open the strait, have a very real, meaningful and time-limited negotiation on the nuclear issue, and I hope we can achieve that.”

Reportedly, the plan under consideration calls for full access to the Strait of Hormuz to be restored within 30 days of any agreement to end hostilities between the two countries.

Under the proposed framework, Iran will use the 30-day period after the ceasefire to clear mines in the strategic waterway, Reuters reported Monday, citing a diplomatic source from the Middle East who spoke to Nikkei.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, US President Donald Trump said the deal would either be “great and meaningful, or there would be no deal at all.”

Trump added that he asked countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Türkiye to collectively join the Abraham Accords in order to normalize relations with Israel.

He said he met with the leaders of those countries on Saturday, as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which have signed a series of agreements to normalize relations with Israel.

“I am mandating that all countries sign the Abraham Accords immediately, and if Iran signs the Accord with me as President of the United States, it would be an honor for them to be a part of this unique World Coalition,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

He cited “all the work the United States has done to put together this very complex puzzle.”

Barbara Leaf, former US deputy assistant secretary for near eastern affairs, said: “Suffice it to say that there are no people who agree to join this agreement among those who are not included in the Abraham Accords. You cannot make Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia do this. Absolutely not.” He said the proposal was met with “stunned silence” when Trump conveyed it to regional leaders by phone over the weekend.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid described the agreement as disturbing and bad for the region, arguing that the Abraham Accords plan would not make the resulting agreement more acceptable to Israel. He said the Israeli government’s “ability to influence decisions in Washington is at an all-time low.”

At the press briefing, Baghaei also said that no nuclear issues, such as what to do with Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, would be covered by the memorandum, other than a commitment to negotiate within the next 60 days. Under increasing pressure from critics within the Republican party, Trump wants the memorandum to include a commitment to destroy Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, even if the exact method is not detailed.

In previous rounds of negotiations with the United States, Iran had stated that it was willing to separate enriched uranium but would not allow the transfer of stockpiles to the United States or Russia. There is talk of suspending domestic enrichment for up to five years, but not the 20 years the US is aiming for.

Iranian officials also claimed that political backlash over the deal within the US had put pressure on Trump to back down on plans to release up to $12bn (£9bn) of frozen Iranian assets held in Qatar. Iranian central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati traveled to Qatar on Monday.

The release of assets is Iran’s main demand, but it bears painful parallels with Trump, who criticized Barack Obama for giving Iran $1.7 billion in cash during the 2015 nuclear deal.

“You are facing a wave of expulsions, contradictory statements, opposition from Congress and also opposition from some segments of the public,” Baghaei said, referring to the chaos in Washington.

Trump, on the contrary, rejected his critics and said that he “won’t listen to poor people criticizing something they know nothing about.”

The agreement includes nothing about Iran’s ballistic missiles or its support for regional proxies; As such, it contradicts Trump’s promise that the war would end with Iran’s complete surrender.

Baghaei accused Israel of trying to break the agreement and said nothing else should be expected from the Israelis.

Baghaei said that talks were held between Omani and Iranian officials on the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. He claimed that the reason why Oman and Iran are trying to establish a reliable and effective mechanism to ensure safe passage through the strait is precisely because “we believe in the use of this international waterway for free trade and safe navigation.”

Rejecting claims the Iranian plan amounted to nationalization of an open waterway, he said that if “navigation services are provided, plus necessary measures to protect the environment of the strait, these require the collection of fees. The term tolls should not be used. We do not charge tolls. I think we should be careful in the choice of words.”

European and Gulf countries will likely see this as a distinction without a difference, especially if commercial shipping is required to receive Iran’s cruise services.

Many commentators in Iran saw the upcoming agreement as a road map to hostile coexistence aimed at managing tensions rather than ending them.

Reports that Iranian officials will reconnect Iran to the international internet within a week following a vote in the supreme national security council have underlined the sense that the war may be nearing its end for now. Faced with rising inflation in food prices, Iranian authorities are worried about the public reaction to the removal of internet controls. Executions continue unabated in Iran.