Trump says US, Iran close to deal, signing expected within days – chinadailyasia.com
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/JERUSALEM – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has said that major sections of a potential memorandum of understanding with the United States are close to completion.
“The text has almost been finalized in its major parts,” Baghaei told Iran’s state-run Press TV in an interview published on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said the United States had “just made a great settlement of the war with Iran”, with an agreement expected to be signed “over the next few days”.
Trump told reporters at the White House that he expected a signing ceremony, attended by Vice-President JD Vance, to be held in Europe over the weekend.
He said the documents were in “final shape” and that the deal would be completed “pretty quickly”.
Asked if Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had agreed to the deal, Trump said: “I understand the answer is yes.”
While describing the possible deal as “a little conceptual”, Trump said it is “a very strong memorandum of understanding” and “something that’s going to get done”.
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Tehran has not yet confirmed whether it has agreed to terms with the United States on a settlement to end the conflict that the United States and Israel launched against Iran on Feb 28.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump vowed to strike Iran for the third consecutive day but announced hours later that he had canceled the plan.
Iran ‘yet to arrive at final conclusion’
In another interview with state-run IRIB TV, Baghaei said on Thursday night that Iran has not yet arrived at a final conclusion about an agreement with the United States on ending the conflict.
He made the remarks while reacting to claims and speculations about an imminent peace agreement between Iran and the United States.
Trump says he has canceled scheduled strikes, bombings against Iran Thursday evening
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said he has canceled scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran on Thursday evening, citing progress in ongoing negotiations.
“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump said.
“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others,” he said.
But the president noted that the US naval blockade will “remain in full force and effect” until a transaction is finalized, adding that time and place of the signing will be announced shortly.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump vowed to launch “bigger, more powerful” strikes against Iran later that night and take control of Kharg Island, which manages over 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports.
Trump, Netanyahu discuss Iran negotiations
During a phone call on Thursday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump discussed the memorandum of understanding being formed with Iran to enter negotiations, read a statement by Netanyahu’s office.
According to the statement, while Israel is not a party to the MoU, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his commitment that the final agreement at the end of the negotiations would include removing Iran’s enriched material, dismantling its enrichment facilities, limiting its missile production, and ending its support for its regional “terrorist proxies”.
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Conflict scopes ‘to expand beyond region if US repeats attacks’
Meanwhile, Ali Abdollahi, chief commander of Iran’s main military command Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that if the United States once again carries out strikes against Iran, the conflict’s scopes will expand beyond the region, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Thursday.
Abdollahi said on the one hand, the United States spoke of agreement and negotiation, and on the other hand, perpetrated “malicious acts”, stressing that “this clear contradiction in the US actions and words is the main cause of insecurity in the region.”
Abdollahi emphasized that the United States cannot compensate for its “humiliation and successive defeats” in the conflict with Iran or conceal its “warmongering” through propaganda and media warfare.
