Full story
Deal Signing Looms
President Donald Trump said the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran will be signed on Sunday and that the Strait of Hormuz will immediately be reopened, while he also said Iran no longer wanted to pursue a nuclear weapon.
The Washington Post reported that the United States and Iran were expected to finalize a deal Sunday that would extend their fragile ceasefire, though Tehran appeared to cast doubt on the prospect.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a post on X that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to “final, agreed upon text,” and that mediators were working with both sides to finalize a deal.
The AP said a fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 7, and that the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 had “virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf.”
Conflicting Signals
Iran’s foreign ministry later said the deal would likely not be signed Sunday, and Al Jazeera reported that Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said a U.S.-Iran agreement would not be signed on Sunday.
In the same Al Jazeera report, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said “We are closer to a peace deal than ever before,” and a senior U.S. official told reporters the deal was “not quite at the finish line yet, but we are very close.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that Trump claimed Iran leaked false information about the potential terms of a Washington-Tehran deal and asserted, “there is no such thing as dealing in good faith” with Iranian leadership.
The Council on Foreign Relations said the expectation is that the memorandum of understanding would extend the ceasefire for at least sixty days and open the Strait of Hormuz, while also quoting Steven Cook saying, “Even if they do and an MOU is announced, negotiations on the outstanding issues, especially on Iran’s nuclear program, will be long and difficult.”
What’s at Stake Next
The AP said U.S. and Iran were working toward signing an initial agreement declaring an end to the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon,” while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said terms dealing with Iran’s nuclear program would be finalized in the 60 days after the initial agreement is signed.
CBS News reported that despite optimism for a deal, the U.S. did shoot down several Iranian attack drones in the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday, and Trump responded by saying it was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.”
The AP described a U.S. administration official saying the emerging agreement would begin the process of destroying or removing Tehran’s highly enriched uranium, and said the 60-day period would be used to work out technical details for removing the uranium.
The Council on Foreign Relations warned that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is central to the talks, noting that the expectation is that the reopening would occur within thirty days and that IRNA said the draft terms do not include Iran relinquishing its control over the strait.
