President Trump and Iran over the weekend offered conflicting timelines for the signing of a potential peace agreement, casting doubt on whether a deal might be signed on Sunday or in the coming days.
Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that a deal was “scheduled to get signed” on Sunday, and that it would immediately open the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route that Iran has tried to control during the war. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, a mediator in the negotiations, said in a post hours earlier that an agreement was expected within 24 hours, followed by the “electronic signing of the peace deal.”
But Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said a deal would not be signed on Sunday, though he left open the possibility that one could be in the coming days, according to the Iranian state news media.
Neither the United States nor Iran has shared the text of the deal being considered, and it could still be derailed. American and Iranian officials have said that under a “memorandum of understanding,” Iran would reopen the strait, the United States would lift its blockade on Iranian ports, and the cease-fire that the two sides agreed to in April would be extended for 60 days.
During that period, both sides would commit to holding detailed negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, and over the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Diplomatic agreements like this are usually signed in person, and it was not immediately clear why this one might be finalized electronically. Mr. Trump, who is expected to remain in Washington on Sunday, his 80th birthday, had previously said he would send Vice President JD Vance to attend the signing if a deal was finalized.
Mr. Baghaei said on Saturday that there were no plans for an Iranian negotiating team to travel to Geneva, where a signing ceremony had been expected to take place, or elsewhere in the next day or two, according to Iran’s state broadcaster.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
-
Opposition in Iran: There were signs on Saturday that some conservative factions in the Iranian government and the military were opposed to the peace agreement being negotiated. Two conservative parliamentarians criticized it, with one saying in a television interview that under the agreement, “Iran would become a colony of America.”
-
Fighting in Lebanon: Israel’s military warned residents of nearly 30 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate on Sunday before fresh strikes, as efforts to establish a lasting cease-fire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah continued to falter. Hours later, the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of violating the current cease-fire by firing toward northern Israel.
-
Strait of Hormuz: Mr. Trump said in recent days that the U.S. military had been helping ships and oil move through the crucial waterway. But the number of ships passing through the strait every day is still far lower than it was before the war.
