Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that the United States and Iran are on the verge of signing a peace agreement and announced he would cancel fresh missile strikes. The comments came in a new bout of public diplomacy via social media, which was not immediately confirmed by Iranian leaders.
This is far from the first time the president and his administration have made such claims. The US and Iran have been in a cycle for months: inching closer to peace, only to have talks fail, fingers pointed, bombs dropped, and negotiations resumed. Trump has asserted dozens of times that a deal is near, and has previously stated that Iranian leaders had agreed to terms when they had not.
Diplomat Warns of Potential Collapse
A diplomat briefed on the talks said the deal had largely been agreed to several weeks ago, but there remains a “50% chance” it will collapse. “There are a lot of potential spoilers,” the diplomat said. The new agreement would provide for a timeline to demine the Strait of Hormuz, during which the US naval blockade would remain in place. It also discusses mechanisms for further nuclear talks and the release of frozen Iranian assets, but does not contain concrete agreements on implementation.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stated: “So far, Iran has not reached a final conclusion on the agreement.”
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