Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that the US and Iran were on the verge of signing a peace agreement and announced he would cancel fresh missile strikes. The president's comments came in a new bout of public diplomacy via social media, but were not immediately confirmed by Iranian leaders.
This is far from the first time the president and his administration have announced an imminent deal. The US and Iran have been in a cycle for months of inching closer to peace, only to have talks fail, fingers pointed, bombs dropped and negotiations resume.
Trump has claimed dozens of times to be close to an agreement and has previously said the Iranian leadership had agreed peace terms when they had not. A diplomat briefed on the talks said the deal had largely been agreed several weeks ago but that there was still a '50% chance' it would collapse. 'There are a lot of potential spoilers,' the diplomat said.
