President Donald Trump said a memorandum leading to a peace agreement with Iran has been “largely negotiated” and would be announced soon, although “final aspects and details” were still being discussed Saturday.
A plume of smoke rises from Tehran after an air strike in March. Officials in Pakistan told Reuters ongoing peace negotiations were “encouraging.”
AFP via Getty Images
Trump announced the potential agreement, which he called a “Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to PEACE,” in a post on Truth Social after finishing a conference call with Middle Eastern leaders from multiple countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.
Reuters previously reported the U.S. was approaching a “fairly comprehensive” deal to end the conflict, citing military officials in Pakistan.
The agreement would be a “memorandum of understanding,” a framework that would set up a longer window to negotiate another deal, Reuters reported citing Pakistani officials, who are mediating talks between the two sides.
If the memo is signed, further talks would begin after the Muslim holiday of Eid, Reuters reported, which begins on Wednesday and ends on Friday.
Earlier on Saturday, the Financial Times reported a deal would likely extend the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran by 60 days and set up further negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
Axios later reported an agreement was close, and was coming down to the "wording" of some points in the deal.
It is still unclear what is in the deal as of Saturday afternoon, but Trump said in his Truth Social post the Strait of Hormuz “will be opened.” The president has been adamant about refusing to sign a deal that would allow Iran to keep its enriched uranium or continue developing nuclear weapons—a point Iran has refused to back down from in the past. Earlier on Saturday, Trump told Axios there was a “solid 50/50” chance he would approve a deal on Sunday, or else he would "blow them to kingdom come." The president was more optimistic when speaking to other news outlets on Saturday, telling CBS News the negotiations were getting close, noting "every day it gets better and better." However, Trump again insisted he would “only sign a deal where we get everything we want,” and again threatened to restart the fighting if negotiations fell through, threatening “a situation where no country will ever be hit as hard as they're about to be hit.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a longtime Iran hawk, warned that accepting a deal because the U.S. cannot protect the Strait of Hormuz or stop Iran from attacking its allies in the Gulf would lead to a “major shift” in the balance of power in the Middle East, as well as a “nightmare for Israel.” Writing in a post on X, Graham said, “it makes one wonder why the war started to begin with if these perceptions are accurate.” In the past week, the South Carolina senator called for Trump to restart attacks on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also dismissed the idea of a 60-day ceasefire. “The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster,” Wicker wrote in his own post on X. “Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!”
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