New York : Pushing back against US President Donald Trump’s claim that a “great settlement” with Iran was imminent after months of continued hostilities. Officials in Tehram said the proposed deal is still being reviewed by the country’s decision-making bodies despite progress in the talks. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said reports suggesting that an agreement was ready to be signed remained speculative and that no final arrangements had been made.
Baghaei added that while a substantial portion of the negotiating text had already been agreed upon, the US repeatedly altered its positions during the course of the talks. He reiterated that Tehran would not back away from its core positions in any agreement with the US. The remarks came hours after Trump struck an upbeat tone on the state of negotiations, saying discussions with Iran had advanced enough for him to call off planned military strikes.
The President described the understanding reached with Tehran as “a very strong memorandum of understanding”, while acknowledging that it remained somewhat conceptual. Trump also claimed that military action targeting Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub was no longer under consideration and said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen immediately once the memorandum was formally signed.
He added that he expected to speak with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan soon. According to Trump, the agreement would permanently address concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “Most importantly, we have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, which was the whole purpose of what we had to go through to get this. So it was a very big thing,” he said.
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