Trump 'cancels' strikes against Iran and makes surprise announcement: 'Date and place of signing to be announced soon'
A few hours after he had threatened new tough attacks against Iran, the US president returned to signal a possible agreement with the regime in Tehran, writes Reuters. Officials in Iran have not yet commented.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had called off strikes against Iran that had been scheduled for later this evening.
He also signaled a possible deal with Tehran to end the conflict.
“Given that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I, as President of the United States of America, have canceled the airstrikes and bombings scheduled against Iran for tonight,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said the “discussions and final points” had been approved by the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and other countries.
“The naval blockade will remain in place until this transaction is completed – the date and place of the signing will be announced soon,” he added.
Trump's previous announcement
Trump had announced earlier on Thursday that the United States would hit Iran “very hard tonight” and would soon take control of the country's infrastructure and oil and gas markets.
The warning came at a time when the US and Iran resumed, at a reduced level, military confrontations.
Reuters wrote that despite the exchange of fire, efforts to reach a provisional agreement to end hostilities intensified.
The sources cited by the news agency said that Iran and the US continued to exchange messages on the details of a memorandum of understanding, amid the current confrontation between Tehran and Washington.
The main problem at the moment of the negotiations
Three Iranian sources told Reuters on Thursday that a political deal had been reached, but that some aspects remained to be discussed in detail, including a mechanism for unlocking tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.
“Iran wants between $6 billion and $12 billion of its frozen funds to be released to Tehran, while Washington wants to release the funds in stages for humanitarian goods and categorically rejects the return of the funds to Iran,” said one of the Iranian sources.
Another Iranian official said talks continued on the amount of frozen assets to be released immediately and a guaranteed timetable for paying the remaining $12 billion in Iran's funds within 60 days.
A US source familiar with the matter also confirmed that the exchange of messages was continuing and that a political agreement had been reached, but that the mechanism regarding the frozen funds was still being finalised.
The framework of a tentative agreement would focus on a temporary relaxation of Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz and phased access through the waterway, while also ending the US blockade of Iranian ports.
Unresolved issues regarding Tehran's nuclear enrichment capacity and its stockpile of highly enriched uranium would be left for future discussions.
