US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Washington and Tehran could sign a peace agreement as early as this weekend, potentially reopening the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping. However, Iran indicated that no final decision had yet been made on the proposed deal.<\/p>\n
If concluded, the agreement would mark the most substantial diplomatic step so far towards ending the three-month conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and driven up global energy prices.<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said much of the draft text had been agreed upon, but stressed that Tehran would not cross its “red lines”.<\/p>\n
“We have not reached a final conclusion on this matter,” Baghaei said, adding that the proposal was still under review by Iran’s relevant decision-making authorities.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the White House, Trump told reporters: “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran.”<\/p>\n
He said the Strait of Hormuz could reopen shortly after the agreement is signed, suggesting the deal may be finalised during talks in Europe this weekend. Trump added that Vice President JD Vance could sign the accord on behalf of the United States.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the arrangement, Trump replied: “I understand the answer is yes.”<\/p>\n
Trump’s remarks came after he cancelled planned military action against Iran, citing progress in negotiations. Financial markets reacted positively, with US stocks rising and oil prices easing.<\/p>\n
The US president has repeatedly suggested since March that a breakthrough with Iran was close. Nevertheless, both sides have continued exchanging attacks in recent days despite an April ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Describing the proposed arrangement, Trump said it was “a very strong memorandum of understanding” that remained somewhat conceptual.<\/p>\n
Trump has maintained that any settlement must permanently block Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran rejects, insisting its nuclear programme is peaceful.<\/p>\n
Iran has sought the removal of international sanctions, access to billions of dollars in frozen assets and recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
“The big thing is there will be no nuclear weapons in Iran. That means not developed and not purchased,” Trump later said during a telephone campaign event.<\/p>\n
The conflict, which began after US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has killed thousands, largely in Iran and Lebanon, and disrupted the global economy by pushing up energy costs.<\/p>\n
Although a ceasefire has technically remained in place since April, fighting has intensified in recent days. Following the downing of a US Apache helicopter, Trump ordered fresh strikes around the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on US facilities in the region.<\/p>\n
Bahrain said debris from intercepted Iranian drones caused minor injuries to an 11-year-old girl and damaged several homes.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Thursday, Trump had threatened severe military action against Iran and reiterated his interest in Kharg Island, which handles around 90% of Iranian oil exports. Control of the island would allow Washington to significantly disrupt Tehran’s energy trade.<\/p>\n
Iranian state media reported on Friday that authorities had stopped a tanker from passing through the Strait of Hormuz without prior coordination. Roughly one-fifth of global energy shipments normally transit the waterway, though traffic has been heavily affected since the conflict began.<\/p>\n
The war has also created domestic political challenges for Trump, with rising fuel prices contributing to declining approval ratings. Some Republicans fear the conflict could damage the party’s prospects in November’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Trump faces pressure from hardliners within his party who insist that any agreement must permanently prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
Regional reactions are expected to play a key role in determining the agreement’s success. Trump said Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had endorsed the deal.<\/p>\n
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that Israel was not a party to the memorandum under discussion with Iran.<\/p>\n
According to the Israeli readout of a call between Netanyahu and Trump, the prime minister welcomed efforts to secure an agreement that includes the removal of enriched nuclear material, dismantling enrichment facilities, restricting missile production and ending support for regional proxy groups.<\/p>\n
Iran has meanwhile continued to demand an end to Israeli military operations in Lebanon, where clashes persist between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Washington and Tehran could sign a peace agreement as early as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[38,977,196,37,215,224,1877,1080,36,221,6228,1044],"class_list":["post-156963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran-strikes","tag-iran-war","tag-israel","tag-israel-iran-war","tag-us-iran-war","tag-us-war","tag-us-iran-conflict","tag-war","tag-war-news","tag-war-news-today","tag-war-updates"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116736825912190308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}