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United States President Donald Trump called off strikes on Iran on June 11, claiming a deal to end the war had been reached and would be signed very soon.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump said: “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.”
“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 added.
Trump, however, noted that the U.S. blockade on Iran-linked shipping would “remain in full force and effect until this transaction is finalized.”
“Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly,” he concluded.
Iran responded by saying that it has not yet made a final decision on a possible deal to end the war, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei saying that reports regarding a time and place for signing the agreement remained speculative and that nothing was finalized.
Baghaei added that a large part of the negotiating text was finalized, but the U.S. repeatedly changed its positions during the talks.
Still, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office later: “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran, subject to finalization of documents. It should get done in the next few days.”
“Maybe over the weekend. In Europe,” he said, adding that he could not attend but that his vice president, JD Vance, and top negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would attend.
The deal, according to Trump, would ensure Iran “will never have a nuclear weapon, which was the whole purpose of what we went through.”
“The documents are in pretty final shape,” and the Iranians “want it as much as everyone else wants it,” Trump said, noting that he had just held phone calls with many leaders in the region, including Netanyahu.
Nevertheless, Trump admitted that the emerging deal addresses Iran’s nuclear material only “conceptually,” Trump said in the briefing.
He added that “nobody has gotten close” to the material because it’s “buried under a mountain” after the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during the 12-day war of last year.
Meanwhile, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement downplaying the potential deal between the U.S. and Iran.
The statement said that the premier had spoken over the phone with Trump about “the emerging memorandum of understanding with Iran regarding entry into negotiations.”
“Although Israel is not a party to the memorandum of understanding,” Netanyahu’s office said, “the prime minister expressed his appreciation for President Trump’s commitment that the final agreement reached at the conclusion of the negotiations will include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limitations on missile production, and the cessation of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region.”
While Trump’s latest announcement certainly calmed down the tensions that built up as a result of a series of clashes over the past week, they are too optimistic.
It is very clear that key issues have not been resolved yet, like the fate of Iran’s stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium. Recent reports from Iranian media also indicate that the Islamic Republic is still not willing to give up on its right to enrich domestically.
Any talks post the deal, which will be more of a time-limited memorandum of understanding, will focus on nuclear issues. As for other issues like Iran’s missile program and the regional influence of the Islamic Republic, these are completely out of the discussion. This leaves space for future escalation, specifically by Israel.
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this is #40 that a deal has been agreed to with iran. pardon a “mou”… made since february?… or is it #4000???… i’m placing a bet that s-f won’t allow this to be the first post.
the clown in chief continues to lie, smh. 🤦