Trump says Iran deal could be signed Sunday

President Donald Trump and Pakistani mediators said Saturday that the United States and Iran were closer than ever to a deal to halt the Iran war, but Tehran pushed back on Trump’s claim that an agreement would be signed as soon as Sunday.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that the deal was “scheduled to get signed” Sunday and that the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for global oil and gas shipments, would reopen immediately afterward. “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” he wrote.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iranian state media that a finalized agreement would not come that quickly. “It will not be tomorrow,” he said Saturday. But he added: “The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also signaled momentum, writing on X that “we are closer to a peace deal than ever before.” He said finalization of a peace deal was “likely expected in the next 24 hours” and that both sides would sign it electronically once completed, followed by technical-level talks next week. “We are confident that this historic peace deal will form a strong foundation for lasting peace,” Sharif said.

The conflict has entered its 107th day, Al Jazeera reported. A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since April 7, according to NPR.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote Friday on X that “the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer.” According to Al Jazeera, Araghchi said the agreement consisted of 14 points, beginning with the lifting of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. He said the memorandum calls for an end to hostilities across all fronts, including Lebanon, and an agreement not to initiate war or use force.

Key details remain unclear, including how Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile would be handled. Trump said Saturday the agreement would lead to the elimination of enriched uranium that could be used in a nuclear weapon. “At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains, thanks to our beautiful B-2 Bombers and their brilliant pilots, and downblend and destroy it, whether in Iran, or the United States,” he wrote.

He also warned: “Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly. If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Al Jazeera reported launched the war in tandem with the U.S. in February, said Trump had promised him that any agreement would include the removal of enriched nuclear material.

The Strait of Hormuz remains a central issue. Iran has effectively controlled the strait since shortly after the war began, virtually shutting down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf, NPR reported. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports in response. On Thursday, Trump wrote that “The Naval Blockade will remain in full force and effect until this Transaction is finalized — Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly.”

The U.S. military’s Central Command said Saturday that Iran had “launched multiple one-way attack drones in an attempt to strike commercial ships transiting the Strait [of Hormuz]” and that “US forces have downed all of them in recent hours,” according to Al Jazeera.

Trump is expected to discuss demining the Strait of Hormuz at the Group of Seven summit, which starts Monday. A senior U.S. official told reporters, under White House ground rules requiring anonymity, that Trump planned to meet with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the summit sidelines to discuss efforts to wind down the war. Britain and France have expressed interest in helping with demining once the conflict is paused, NPR reported.

Fighting continued elsewhere. Al Jazeera reported Israeli attacks in Lebanon on Saturday, including airstrikes in Deir ez-Zahrani that killed two people, the killing of the mayor of Rihan in the Jezzine district, and one death near Tyre. Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli soldiers trying to advance. Israel’s military said sirens sounded in northern Israel after a “hostile aircraft infiltration” and that two impacts were identified near the Israel-Lebanon border.

In Washington, some Democrats expressed caution. “The President says the war is over. I hope that he is right,” Sen. Adam Schiff of California wrote on X. “But we have heard this before. Along with a raft of broken promises.”