Summary United States President Donald Trump said he cancelled a third consecutive day of strikes on Iran, claiming that a deal with Tehran is close to being finalized.
DUBAI (Agencies) - United States President Donald Trump said he cancelled a third consecutive day of strikes on Iran, claiming that a deal with Tehran is close to being finalised and a “time and place of the signing” are “to be announced shortly”.
Earlier, Trump had warned that Iran would be hit “very hard” and threatened that US forces would take Iran’s Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure points.
Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official said a proposal for a memorandum of understanding with the US is “under consideration” by the country’s top leaders, which might result in a signing, but the timing remains speculative.
On Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it carried out attacks on US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, in retaliation for the second day of US strikes on Iran. The IRGC also announced the complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump says Iran also agreed not to buy nuclear weapons. “The big thing is there will be no nuclear weapons in Iran. That means not developed and not purchased,” Trump said during the call.
“They had a clause they won’t develop. I said, ‘What about purchasing?’ They said, ‘Well, we didn’t cover that.’ So, two days later, they agreed to that. We got everything we wanted,” he said.
Trump has again spoken about negotiation with Iran during a tele-rally in support of Senate candidate Barry Moore, claiming that the war is now over.
“I don’t know if you heard, but we ended the war with Iran today, and they have agreed never to have a nuclear weapon, something that we, we insisted on,” Trump said.
Later in the call, Trump made similar comments, saying: “Today, we settled up with Iran”.
“We made a great deal. There’ll be no nuclear weapons. People will start coming home very soon. It’s pretty much, pretty much completed. We got everything we wanted.”
‘POSITIVE UNDERSTANDING’ IN TEHRAN ON PROPOSAL, BUT FINAL SIGNING ‘SUBJECT TO CONSIDERATION’
There is a positive understanding in Tehran about this memorandum of understanding.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its spokesperson, told the media this evening that, yes, there is a proposal; it is now under consideration by the supreme leader of Iran, and also the top leaders of the country, and that it might well end in a kind of signing.
But the news about a location and timing are probably speculations at this moment.
Also, there is no complete agreement by the Iranians on this yet, subject to consideration.
He also mentioned that this agreement is almost the same as the one that was agreed on in principle between the two sides with the Pakistani mediation before the recent strikes, and the Americans have chosen two things… to demand for more modifications on the agreement, out of greed. They went to those military strikes to frame the Iranian approval or potential approval today as something that has come under military pressure.
He is basically showing that the Iranians are, on the one hand, almost on the same page with the Americans, but also, not yet, not completely, not absolutely, because they are still studying the details, and at the same time, they are not fully trusting the American side.
They are still suspicious about whether the Americans, this time around, are serious about this peace deal proposal, or whether they will suddenly change their minds, as they used to do, and begin a new course of action against Iran, as they did several times during the last couple of months.
