Trump claims to be on verge of peace deal but Iran signals no agreement reached | US-Israel war on Iran

Donald Trump claimed on Friday he could approve an Iran peace deal that includes major concessions from Tehran, including opening the Strait of Hormuz and dismantling the country’s nuclear program. However, senior Iranian officials have signaled that no final agreement has been reached.

These two versions suggest that Trump may once again apply the “art of the deal” as he tries to talk his way out of a war that has disrupted global energy supplies and shaken the world economy.

Trump left the White House situation room after spending more than two hours with top aides but did not immediately announce his decision. The New York Times, citing a senior administration official, reported that Trump has not made a decision on the peace deal.

Announcing the terms of the so-called deal on the Truth Social platform, the US president said Iran “must accept that it will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb”, open the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic without tolls, remove mines from the waterway, and allow the US to extract and destroy highly enriched uranium from a safe nuclear zone in Iran. He said the deal would also prevent the transfer of frozen assets to Iran.

Trump also said the United States would lift the naval blockade of Iran, but it is not yet clear whether this will be subject to ratification of the deal.

“I will now meet in the Situation Room to reach a final decision,” he wrote.

The virtual wish list that the United States had demanded in the negotiations was presented as a completed deal, showing Iran capitulating on key positions, including the right to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the release of frozen assets and an insistence on the country’s right to pursue its nuclear program.

But Iranian officials signaled opposition following Trump’s announcement, and those close to the government denied a deal had been reached. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that no final agreement had been reached between Iran and the United States and that Trump’s post was “in line with his usual pattern of making one-sided and selfish statements.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state media: “As I said when talking to you, the exchange of messages regarding the memorandum continues, but a final agreement has not yet been reached.”

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said he and his Omani counterpart discussed the “future administration”. [of the strait of Hormuz] “In accordance with our sovereign responsibilities and international law,” he said, Iran is unlikely to open the waterway with the same system it used before the war.

“The Situation Room meeting is over and lasted about two hours. President Trump will only do a deal that is good for America and meets his red lines,” a White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Iran can never have nuclear weapons.”

A meeting in Washington between US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar ended without any public comment on the talks, in which Pakistan was a key mediator.

Tasnim stated that there was no discussion on the nuclear issue, and that Trump’s reports about lifting the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz should be met with “skepticism”.

Iran’s Fars news agency said Trump published a “mixture of truths and lies” about the terms of the deal, which did not include provisions for free opening of the Strait of Hormuz or the destruction of Iran’s nuclear materials.

On Friday, Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, wrote that Iran “has no confidence in guarantees or promises, the measure is only actions.”

Ghalibaf also sent a defiant message that Iran is ready for a new round of war if talks to extend the ceasefire and end the war fail.

“We get concessions not through dialogue, but through missiles; in negotiations we just make them understand,” he wrote. “The winner of any agreement is the one who is better prepared for war from the next day.”

US vice president J.D. Vance hinted Thursday night that a deal was close, but Trump reportedly needed more time to decide whether he would support a negotiated deal that would defer many difficult issues, including the fate of Iran’s remaining stockpile of nuclear materials, to later talks.

Senior Iranian officials have reiterated that there are no plans to allow the export of uranium, but observers have suggested this does not rule out more highly blended uranium from weapons grade.

Trump may need time not only to think but also to persuade a reluctant Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the need for a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of the deal.

The Israeli prime minister has been using the last few days to step up attacks on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, including the capital Beirut.

Netanyahu did not immediately comment on the Iran deal, saying: “Our forces have crossed the Litani and advanced to strategic areas. We are operating in Beirut, in the Bekaa valley and on the entire front, and we are directly targeting Hezbollah.”

Baghaei said the “silence and indifference of international institutions” would drive Israel to “more anger.”

He also described the United States as complicit and complicit in Israel’s crimes in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and the entire region.

Ibrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the national security and foreign policy commission of the Iranian parliament, said that Iran is not in the mood to back down on its plans to change the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

He noted that Iran’s waterway management is recognized worldwide, which is “why countries get permission, pay the expenses, and pass their ships under the guidance of the Revolutionary Guard Navy. The only one who doesn’t believe it or doesn’t want to believe it is Trump; every now and then he sends his army to open the strait, they come, get beaten, and go back.”

In a televised interview, Rezaei questioned whether Iran was required to give up its desire to acquire nuclear weapons in the deal. “Why should we promise America that we won’t build nuclear weapons?” he said. “This issue does not concern America.”

At the same time, Ibrahim Azizi, head of the parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, denied reports that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles could be transferred to a third country or mediator, saying that the Islamic Republic has no intention of transferring or handing over these materials.

Earlier, Iranian president Mahmoud Pezeshkian adopted a more conciliatory tone, thanking Pakistani mediators for their effectiveness in reaching an agreement. He spoke on the phone with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.