Donald Trump has claimed a peace deal with Iran is “largely negotiated”, after calls with a Pakistani mediator, Gulf allies and Israel, potentially paving the way for an end to the war launched by the US and Israel in February.
Trump wrote on his social media platform that “final aspects and details” of a “memorandum of understanding” were still being discussed and “will be announced shortly”, adding that the Strait of Hormuz would be opened as part of the deal.
“An agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries,” Trump posted.
However, Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, suggested the Strait of Hormuz would remain under Iranian control, a red line for the US.
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The news agency reported on Telegram that “the management of the Strait, determining the route, time, method of passage, and issuing permits will continue to be the monopoly and discretion of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
It said Trump’s assertion that an agreement was nearly final was “inconsistent with reality”.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, later congratulated Trump on his peace efforts and said Pakistan hoped to host another round of talks between the US and Iran “very soon”.
Sharif described the US president’s call with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Pakistan as “very useful and productive”, adding: “Pakistan will continue its peace efforts with utmost sincerity and we hope to host the next round of talks very soon.”
Pakistan’s army chief, Syed Asim Munir, is a key figure in the negotiations and has held meetings in Tehran recently with figures such as Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Trump’s announcement came after a Pakistani source told Reuters that Iran and Pakistan had submitted a revised proposal to the US to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Details purported to be in the draft agreement include that the strait would reopen with no tolls during a 60-day ceasefire extension, while Iran would be able to freely sell oil and negotiations would be held on curbing its nuclear program, according to Axios. In exchange, the US would lift its blockade on Iranian ports, it reported, citing a US official.
The report tallies with the Associated Press, which cited a regional source as saying the potential deal would include an official declaration of the war’s end, with two-month negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, the opening of the crucial shipping lane by Iran and an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports.
Three senior Iranian officials told the New York Times the agreement would stop the fighting in Iran and in Lebanon, and could release $25 billion in Iranian assets frozen overseas, with a nuclear agreement to be negotiated within 30 to 60 days.
There had been hints before the announcement that indirect talks between the US and Iran had progressed in the past few days. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said during a visit to India that “news” might arrive “later today”, even as Trump continued to threaten striking Iran.
Trump had on Saturday told CBS and Axios he would only sign a deal “where we get everything we want”, adding that if a deal was not reached, the US would begin striking Iran again.
News of the potential deal triggered dismay among Republican hawks who had spent years calling for US military action against Iran, and deriding the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment in return for sanctions relief negotiated during the Obama administration. Trump withdrew from that international deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018.
Mike Pompeo, who served as CIA director and secretary of state during Trump’s first term, denounced the rumoured terms of the deal as too close to what Barack Obama’s negotiators had achieved and a boon to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The White House director of communications, Steven Cheung, suggested Pompeo had “no idea” what he was talking about.
“He should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals. He’s not read into anything that’s happening, so how would he know,” Cheung wrote on X.
According to Drop Site’s source, the Iranian proposal included permanently ending the war before negotiating any deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme. It is unclear how many of these points were included in Iran’s latest proposal.
Iran’s top negotiator said earlier in the day, while meeting with the Pakistani army chief in Tehran, that there would be no compromise over its national rights.
“Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses,” he said on state television. – Guardian
