Key takeaways:
- Trump said he canceled a third consecutive day of strikes on Iran and claimed a deal was close to being finalized.
- Iran’s foreign ministry said reports of an agreement were “speculative” and that “nothing has been finalised.”
- Brent crude fell 4.4% to about $89 a barrel after Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen once an agreement is signed.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had canceled planned strikes on Iran and claimed an initial agreement to end the war was close, hours after warning that the United States would hit Iran “very hard.”
“We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He said the agreement would ensure that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” adding: “It’s a very big thing.”
Iran disputed that any deal had been completed. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told state television that reports of an agreement were “speculative” and that “nothing has been finalised.” He said most of the text of a memorandum had been completed, but accused the United States of making “excessive demands” and adding “new requests.” Iran, he said, would not “depart from its red lines.”
Trump said the documents were in “pretty final shape” and that there would “probably be a signing, maybe in Europe” once they were completed. Al Jazeera reported that Trump said a “time and place of the signing” would be announced shortly. He also said the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, would reopen “as soon as we have it signed.”
The price of Brent crude fell to about $89 a barrel, down 4.4% on the day, after Trump’s comments.
The U.S. and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Iran responded by attacking Israel and U.S.-allied states in the Gulf and effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz. Although the sides agreed to a ceasefire in April, the United States and Iran have exchanged intermittent fire, including two rounds of strikes this week.
Trump said he had spoken with regional leaders, including Gulf allies and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The whole Middle East is very happy,” he said. Netanyahu’s office confirmed the conversation and said Israel “is not a party to the memorandum of understanding.” The office said Netanyahu expressed appreciation for Trump’s commitment to work toward a final agreement that included “the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region.”
Earlier Thursday, Trump had said “the United States will be hitting Iran… very hard tonight” and threatened to seize Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure points “in the not too distant future.” Kharg Island, in the northern Gulf, is Iran’s main oil export terminal, with about 90% of its oil exports passing through it. Trump also wrote that the United States would “assume total control” over the oil and gas markets “much like we have with Venezuela.”
Iran’s military warned that any further attacks would bring retaliation “more severe than before.” It said that, in light of U.S. threats against Iranian oil infrastructure, “either oil and gas exports are for everyone or they will be available for no-one.” Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions will… create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years.”
The latest exchanges followed the crash of a U.S. Apache helicopter in the Gulf on Monday. U.S. Central Command said Wednesday it had completed strikes on military, surveillance and radar sites in southern Iran. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck American bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Authorities in Bahrain said an 11-year-old girl was injured by an Iranian drone attack that also damaged homes and cars. Jordan said it shot down about 20 Iranian missiles, and Kuwait said its military engaged “hostile aerial targets.”
India summoned a senior American diplomat after confirming that three Indian sailors were killed in a U.S. strike on a ship in the Gulf of Oman, which Washington accused of violating its blockade on Iranian ports. Twenty-one crew members were rescued. U.S. forces have fired on nine vessels so far, including three this week, as part of a blockade aimed at restricting Tehran’s oil revenue.
The escalation drew calls for restraint. A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the continuing escalation in the Middle East” and urged the parties to return to full implementation of the ceasefire. Pakistan, Russia, China, Turkey, India and Saudi Arabia also called for de-escalation.
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