President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that a peace deal between the United States, Iran, and other regional partners has been “largely negotiated”, including the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Taking to his Truth Social platform, President Trump said that following an Oval Office call on Saturday with leaders from the Middle East and a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a “Memorandum of Understanding” pertaining to peace between Washington and Tehran has been agreed to in principle.
Among those President Trump spoke with on Saturday were Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, Pakistani Chief of Defence Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, King of Jordan Abdullah II, and King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
“An Agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries, as listed,” he wrote.
President Trump said that the final details of the agreement are “currently being discussed” and would be announced shortly.
“In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he said.
The announcement came after President Trump warned earlier on Saturday that either an agreement would be made or he would “blow [Iran] to kingdom come”.
“I think one of two things will happen: either I hit them harder than they have ever been hit, or we are going to sign a deal that is good,” Trump told Axios. “Some people would much rather have a deal and others would rather resume the war.”
He said that a deal would only be made if core issues, notbably Iran’s nuclear programme and its stockpile of enriched uranium, were addressed.
While the United States, Israel, and Iran agreed to a ceasefire last month, American forces have continued to put pressure on Tehran by enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier on Saturday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that it had redirected 100 commercial vessels from reaching Iranian ports, likely inflicting significant economic pain to the regime by preventing the export of oil.
“Our service members are doing extraordinary work,” said CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper. “They have been highly effective by executing the mission with precision and professionalism, allowing zero trade into and out of Iranian ports which has squeezed Iran economically.”
Speaking prior to the announcement from President Trump on Saturday on the sidelines of his diplomatic trip to India, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hinted that a deal may be imminent, saying that there had been “progress made”.
“Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The straits need to be opened without tolls. They need to turn over their enriched uranium,” Rubio said.
“These are the president’s points consistently, and his preference is always to deal with it in a diplomatic way. The president’s preference is always to solve problems such as these through a negotiated diplomatic solution. That’s what we’re working on right now. But this problem will be solved as the president’s made clear, one way or the other. We hope it’s done through the diplomatic route,” the top American diplomat added.
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