Trump says no rush for Iran deal, US blockade stays
US President Donald Trump does not want to rush to reach any agreement with Iran; This appears to be dampening hopes of an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war that both sides had raised the issue a day earlier.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US blockade of Iranian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz “will remain in full effect until an agreement is reached, ratified and signed.”
He said negotiations are progressing and the U.S. relationship with Iran has become more professional and productive.
“Both parties should take their time and do the job right. There can be no mistakes!”
A day earlier, Trump said Washington and Iran were “substantially negotiating” a memorandum of understanding for a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which before the conflict carried one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of an agreement to end the war, which the United States and Israel started on February 28 but has not been successful so far.
It was not clear Sunday whether the agreement he was referring to was the first memorandum of understanding discussed or a much tougher, broader peace deal that would last much longer.
The two sides are at odds over several thorny issues, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Tehran’s demands for the lifting of sanctions and the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenue frozen in foreign banks.
Various media organizations in the US and Iran said that if the agreement, which sets a framework for ending the months-long conflict, is concluded, the US will lift the blockade of Iranian ships and reopen the waterway, which Iran closed with the threat of attacking ships.
A senior Iranian source had previously told Reuters that if Iran’s Supreme National Security Council approves the memorandum, it will be sent to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei for final approval.
However, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that disagreements continued on one or two items.
Tasnim quoted a source as saying there would be no final agreement if the US continues to create obstacles.
One of Khamenei’s military advisers said Tehran had the legal right to manage the Strait of Hormuz, but it was unclear whether that meant continuing to decide which ships could pass through.
Any deal that would strengthen the current fragile ceasefire would bring relief to markets but would not immediately quell the global energy crisis that has increased the costs of fuel, fertilizer and food.
Even if the war ends now, full flow through the strait will not return before the first or second quarter of 2027, the chairman of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said last week.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said 33 ships passed through the strait in the last 24 hours after receiving permission from Tehran; this figure was still well below the 140 ships on a typical day before the war.
While Trump has presented a variety of war aims during the conflict, he has repeatedly said that the United States struck Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons.
In his post on Sunday, he reiterated that Iran “must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure Nuclear Weapons or Bombs.”
Iran has long denied having such weapons and says it has the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes, even though the purity achieved is far greater than that required for energy production.
Sources told Reuters that the proposed framework, when it emerges, will unfold in three phases: a formal end to the war, resolving the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and opening a 30-day window for negotiations on a broader agreement that could be extended.
Trump, whose approval ratings have taken a hit due to the war’s impact on US energy prices, said on Friday that he would not attend his son’s wedding this weekend, citing Iran among his reasons for staying in Washington.
He met with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan on Saturday and encouraged Trump to accept the resulting framework, Axios reported.
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